Then Ellen DeGeneres had her well-known coming-out second. I couldn’t consider it — this sensible, lovely, humorous, form lady was on nationwide TV asserting that she was homosexual! I might see a lot of myself in her — positive, she was funnier and extra entertaining, however she dressed like me, wore her hair like me and, most significantly, she was a lesbian, like me! I couldn’t consider it! Ellen popping out meant the world to me and a mess of others who, for many years, had been advised that we’re irregular (or worse) and may disguise who we’re.
I agreed to fulfill Snapper and can always remember seeing her for the primary time. She was ready for me on the balcony of her house in Portland. She was wearing Bermuda shorts and a crisp, short-sleeved, blue shirt, buttoned all the way in which as much as her chin. “She’s right here, Mother! She’s right here!” I heard as I pulled up. I laughed as I parked as a result of I wasn’t fairly positive what I used to be strolling into.
“Welcome!” stated Jaimee, Snapper’s mom, as she motioned me inside. I turned to Snapper, put out my hand, and stated: “It’s a pleasure to fulfill you. I like your outfit — it’s very dapper!” Snapper broke out into an enormous smile, which she tried to comprise, and provided a quiet “thanks.” As we went inside, Jaimee whispered, “Snap modified her outfit 5 occasions earlier than you arrived and at one level had on a tux.” My coronary heart almost exploded, and it took every little thing I needed to conceal my response.
We sat down to speak, and Snapper advised me how she got here out on her first day of kindergarten. Apparently, the trainer requested everybody to introduce themselves and say one thing about who they had been — and Snapper stated, “Hello, my identify is Snapper, and I’m homosexual.”
After college, when Snapper advised this story to her household, they had been shocked. Not as a result of Snapper was homosexual, however as a result of Snapper had by no means really stated it out loud. Jaimee advised me: “We had by no means talked about her being homosexual, simply that individuals may very well be straight or homosexual, or someplace in between. I requested her what ‘homosexual’ means, and Snap was very matter-of-fact about how some individuals will develop up and marry a boy, and if she marries somebody, they are going to be a woman— and that was it.”
Right here we had been, two years later, and I used to be assembly this candy younger lady who firmly recognized as homosexual. Jaimee advised me that she reached out to her pals to discover a “robust, wonderful homosexual individual” who would come speak to Snapper. “I wished Snap to fulfill somebody that mirrored sure elements of her that she might establish with,” Jaimee stated. “I additionally wished her to know that the trail she was on had been carved by a complete neighborhood of courageous, robust people.”
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