From Hidden Shame to Proud Advocacy: Our Journey as LGBTQ+ Pioneers

New York, N.Y. When I was growing up in the 1960s in the American Midwest, I did not know that same-sex relationships existed. I felt terribly “different” and struggled to accept myself and my feelings. As I developed crushes on my best male friends in junior high school, I felt ashamed, frustrated, and even contemplated suicide as an escape.

I often had a recurring nightmare of being tied up in a freshly dug grave, with my best friends standing around the edges, mocking me as a “faggot,” and urinating on me. Instinctively, I knew I had to escape the rural ignorance of my hometown, and I moved to New York City the moment I graduated from college.

If we had known in the 1960s and 1970s that many men (and women) loved those of the same sex—and that it was not only “normal” but okay—we would have internalized less self-hatred and probably avoided suicidal ideation. Today, the need to emphasize this seems less pressing, given the prominence of Pride Parades and gay heroes on television.

I remember telling our nieces and nephews that I had helped found the LGBTQ+ group on campus in college, and they were incredulous. “Uncle Jim, those groups have always existed!” they said. Back then, we didn’t even say “LGBTQ+“; we had just moved past “homosexual” to using “gay and lesbian.” The term “queer” was particularly painful, akin to “faggot,” and it still feels uncomfortable to me.

This is why we identify LGBTQ+ individuals of note in The Stewardship Report. It’s not about “labeling” but providing information to our readers that being gay is much more common than many of us we thought growing up, and that no one should feel alone if they are struggling, especially outside America’s urban centers.

In an era before gay marriage or open pride, men and women fell in love, formed passionate friendships and had same-sex encounters. Due to social and official discrimination, though, most of their stories have gone untold. The Stewardship Report hopes to capture as many of these important biographies as we can.

#LGBTQ+Advocacy, #PrideJourney, #FromShameToPride, #LGBTQ+History, #StewardshipReport

TAGS: LGBTQ+, Advocacy, Gay Rights, Pride, Mental Health, Rural America, Urban Life, Identity, History