Friday, August 31, 2007

Lesbians at the retirement community coming out!

I just created a new tag and am going to start putting stuff about coming out under that tag. So for those of you who have an RSS feed sorry. It will look like there's new posts when there aren't.

Why come out? Because I am afraid of being 88 years old in a retirement community doing it. I read this story published in newsweek yesterday. It's the story of an 88 year old lesbian who just "came out of the closet" after being inspired by another women in her retirement community who came out. Here's a quote from the article:
"Why am I now able to speak the unspoken? A friend at the retirement community where I live recently came out in the local and national newspapers. When I saw her do that, I thought, for heaven’s sake, nobody can fire me, I’m 88 years old, my parents are gone.

Still, I was frightened. It took me several days to put this essay in the mailbox. I owe a lot of credit to people who are comfortable enough in their own skins to say, “This is who I am.” "
It's totally amazing and wonderful she was able to come out. And it made me really sad to read how long she had to live hidden and unknown. I know it was her choice but... ouch. And it caused me to remember how very upset I was when I watched the first story in "If these walls could speak 2". Ouch, ouch, ouch!

2 comments:

. said...

wow - 88 YEARS! I'm so glad that she was able to overcome everything that kept her silent so long. This makes me want to bake her cookies or something. :-)

Zuzu said...

It's all relative. Somewhere in me I celebrate that she spoke her truth and didn't simply take it to her grave. Another somewhere feels the same sadness about waiting until one is in their 30s. But, it's all relative.