Twenty-two years ago, I asked my dad if he was gay. Then he was gone.

Contents:

• AFTER 20 YEARS OF MARRIAGE, MY DAD CAME OUT AS GAY
• DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR
• THE GAY FATHER I NEVER KNEW
• MY LIFE CHANGED FOREVER THE DAY I FOUND OUT MY FATHER WAS GAY
• MY DAD COMG OUT AS GAY CHANGED OUR LIV — AND GAVE ME THE COURAGE TO BE MYSELF

AFTER 20 YEARS OF MARRIAGE, MY DAD CAME OUT AS GAY

Growg up, I was a tomboy — or what Larry David would later ll “pre-gay. And while my father was anx when I first me out as gay at 19, I have only ever felt supported by him. Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love.

DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR

There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia.

'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife. The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage". In late 1980, at a support group for gay fathers, my dad met Lnel –– the man wh whom he would spend the next 23 years.

THE GAY FATHER I NEVER KNEW

He had seemed kd of lost his new life – phg 60, recently divorced om my mother, recently out of the closet as gay man. He asked that I march wh him, alongsi the other gay fathers and their kids, the Los Angel Pri Para. What I do remember was that someone had ma T-shirts that said "I LOVE MY GAY DAD" and I refed to wear one.

I told my dad, “I love you, but not bee you’re gay. ” The tth, though, is that I lacked the urage to stand all the way up for my father and his ras agast a homophobic and different world. I probably left my "I LOVE MY GAY DAD" T-shirt next to the box had e out of, though I might have taken home wh me and buried a drawer.

Pete Wilson’s office, or at the Natnal March on Washgton for Lbian and Gay dad and his hband lost a lot of iends to AIDS. Even when I was an obnox 22-year-old and wouldn’t put on a T-shirt to clare, unashamed, unembarrassed and unapologetic, that I love my gay dad. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSocial Q’sA rear asks for advice on talkg to her father about his new romantic dad me out as gay to my mom and me two years ago, and my parents got divorced.

MY LIFE CHANGED FOREVER THE DAY I FOUND OUT MY FATHER WAS GAY

Sce then, he beiend another gay man.

MY DAD COMG OUT AS GAY CHANGED OUR LIV — AND GAVE ME THE COURAGE TO BE MYSELF

In this example, you happened to see him naked a settg that n be sexually arog for a lot of gay man. Jt as you didn’t choose to be gay and have the feelgs you have.

The first time my dad tried to tell me he was gay, didn't go well. What I gleaned om his ramblgs were that he believed that human sexualy was a ntuum and that if he hadn't been born and raised a relig fah that shunned homosexualy, he might have gravated more towards that si of the spectm.