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       #Post#: 24858--------------------------------------------------
       My Pride Post
       By: Skip Trace Date: June 1, 2022, 8:50 pm
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       I work for a very large and progressive company, and I am a
       member of its PRIDE Employee Resource Group for LGBTQ+ employees
       and allies. During June, PRIDE members share memories of Pride
       celebrations on Yammer, a social networking service used by a
       lot of corporations. I volunteered to kick it off this year and
       posted this to the PRIDE Yammer channel first thing this
       morning. I thought about posting it to my MMSA Author Journal as
       well but figured I'd do a trial run here. It's about the length
       of a flash fiction.
       Happy Pride Month! Atlanta Pride in June 1996 will always be
       special to me because it was the weekend I came out to my two
       children. They were young – too young, my ex-wife believed. But
       my son, age eleven, was just two months away from middle school.
       I wanted to inoculate him against the knee-jerk homophobia he
       would encounter there. As for my eight-year-old daughter, one of
       her school friends had two moms, giving her a frame of
       reference.
       I made it a special occasion. There was already a buzz in the
       city, as the Summer Olympics were just three weeks away and the
       signs were everywhere. We checked into a downtown hotel on
       Friday and visited Centennial Olympic Park, where we found “our
       brick” – the commemorative brick I purchased that was inscribed
       with our names. The next day, we ate lunch at the revolving
       restaurant we all loved. Afterwards, we returned to our hotel
       room, where I told them I was gay and what that meant – finally
       explaining, three years after it ended, the breakup of a long
       marriage that must have seemed inexplicable to them at the time.
       I had come prepared with a short, age-appropriate book to read
       aloud, the title of which escapes me now. And then we headed for
       Piedmont Park, where the 26th anniversary edition of Atlanta
       Pride was in full swing.
       We stayed long enough for me to convey the message that there
       are a lot of LGBTQ+ people in the world. (According to news
       reports, attendance over the course of the weekend reached
       300,000.) Nor were my son and daughter the only children at
       Pride, as they saw plenty of kids of all ages. In terms of
       “normalizing” being LGBTQ+, I noted name-brand companies like
       Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines, just two among the many
       businesses that were happy to cater to the community. I also
       pointed out the booths staffed by inclusive churches, stressing
       that there was no inherent conflict between being gay and being
       a person of faith. Which was all well and good, but my daughter
       was most excited about all the dogs running around wearing
       rainbow scarves!
       Then it was time to leave. Afterward, I gave my ex a heads up
       and she expressed her unhappiness. When the world did not end as
       a result of my revelation, however, she came around. As for my
       kids, they grew up to be great people, and strong allies as
       well. None of us live in Atlanta anymore, but we will never
       forget the summer of 1996.
       #Post#: 24859--------------------------------------------------
       Re: My Pride Post
       By: Kat Date: June 1, 2022, 9:06 pm
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       Thanks for sharing this, Skip. It's a beautiful story. I think
       people often underestimate what children can understand and
       accept. Most of the time, they are more open than adults.
       Kat
       #Post#: 24861--------------------------------------------------
       Re: My Pride Post
       By: afinch Date: June 1, 2022, 9:50 pm
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       Thanks for sharing.  My experience with my children was far less
       happy.  I'm glad yours was so much better.
       #Post#: 24879--------------------------------------------------
       Re: My Pride Post
       By: David M. Katz Date: June 5, 2022, 7:37 pm
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       Very nice!
       I would encourage a share at MMSA.
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