Equality Press

By Les Norman

It was fourteen years ago when our youngest son Nick came out to us. It seems another age. Perhaps it was, but I think not entirely. Things haven’t changed that much. When he said the words “Mum, Dad, I’m gay,” it seemed to falsify those years of raising a son to take his place in the world. Were those twenty-five years a complete fantasy, just play-acting on the stage of life? We told Nick we loved him, no matter what, but I know that I felt ashamed, not for him, but for the whole family, and for myself. (more…)

Some large steps forward this past few months some would say. The Rev. Gene Robinson. The Episcopal Church takes on the issue of having an openly gay man at the helm of the church. This may not be the first but it is definitely the first one that we know about. The leaps forward in coupling rights in California, Canada and then the silence from the Supreme Court of Massachusetts is deafening. What are they thinking why so long in the ruling? The media world seems to be on fire with the Queer Eye. Seems like when the Supreme Court took the sodomy laws from all the states now we can have a show with gay guys prancing around showing all the straight guys how wonderful it is to have five us all to their own. What can we make of all of this, how do we place it in our day-to-day lives? (more…)

By Tim Dougherty

I recently spoke at the GLSEN rally for National Coming Out Day this past October. Doing so gave me the opportunity to think about what “coming out” really meant–and still means–to me. It’s amazing how far I have come since I first started to open that closet door in 1993, when I was 32 years old. I am nearly unrecognizable to myself in so many ways, yet I am also more of the best of who I was and always have been.

Let me introduce myself: My name is Tim Dougherty and I teach English at Concord High School in Concord, New Hampshire. And I just happen to be gay. Just as I happen to be one of six children, just happen to be colorblind, just happen to love Ovaltine, and just happen to be a huge Speed Racer fan. When I think about my coming out, I think about who I am now, who or what coming out has allowed me to become. (more…)