Dear Howard,
Would you mind please revealing what the most given reason is that you, personally, receive from people who justify not coming out voluntarily as gay in this day and age, especially now that we’re well past those HIV “automatic” death-sentence, dark ages of the ’80s and ’90s? — Frank
Dear Frank,
I do not mind at all: The No. 1 reason I get for anyone not come out of the closet voluntarily is, quixotically, the very same reason that it has always been throughout human history: “I do not want my mother to find out I’m gay — it would ‘kill’ her” — despite the fact that such revelation has never “killed” a single loving mother, nor even left a loving mother mortally wounded.
Your mom loves you; she’ll get over it.
— Howard Lewis Russell
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition December 6, 2013.