Are you familiar with the store Local Take in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco? You should be! They opened up in May of last year but the truth of the matter is that I’ve known and worked with the owners, Jenn and Kyra for years. As you might have gathered from the name, Local Take carries items made by local artists. It’s a great place to shop and I highly recommend dropping in if you’re in the neighborhood. Click the picture to visit their website.
So when a reporter from a newspaper that covers gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender stories came in to inquire about which of their makers is an out gay person, my name came up. Raymond Flournoy gave me a call, we did a little phone interview and it came out in this week’s paper. Here’s a link to the story online: http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=69392
I’ve been interviewed a few times and I’ve got to say that Ray got more quotes correct than any other reporter I’ve worked with. I swear, some reporters just make up quotes but not Ray, darn it. The interview got me thinking about being out and what it means to me. A few years ago, I was taking a business class and the teacher, a woman maybe ten years my senior, admitted towards the end of the semester that she is gay but that she’s always terrified to talk about her wife as freely as I talk about mine.
The thing is, I’m still scared every time I say “my wife” out loud to strangers but I do it anyway because I think it’s important for people to realize that gay people are not a fictional concept, they’re real, regular people. I make it a point not to hide because it’s who I am. To live any other way would be a lie. You may not like it. You may hate it. But I don’t care because I’m not living my life for you. So, now you know your local, lesbian screen printer. Do with that knowledge what you will.
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