rivers_bend

Heartfelt interview with Chely Wright in the Advocate here, about how painful it is to keep secrets and live a lie, and how terrifying it can be to contemplate doing otherwise.

"...I think about that girl in a small town in Louisiana who is too afraid to come out because she knows she won’t be safe. I think about that 15 year old boy living somewhere in Kansas, feeling scared and alone. If a country singer that he knows comes out of the closet, maybe that makes him feel a little less alone. And what about his parents? Maybe his mom knows my songs, or maybe his dad saw me perform for the troops in Iraq. If my coming out of the closet makes them rethink their ideas about gay people, then I’ve done something good. After finally coming to terms with my own life, I just felt like it would be irresponsible for me not to be honest about it.”

I am (as may be obvious) a huge fan of being out. I would give anything for this to be a world where everyone could live their whole selves out in the open, and I do believe that the more people who are able to overcome the pressures to fit into the boxes society ordains for them, who are able to tell the whole truth, the less pressure there will be, and the easier it will be for everyone else. At the same time I am opposed to outing, and all for people being out when they feel safe.

I have so much admiration for the people in the entertainment industry who are able to take this step. I've had a ridiculously easy life when it comes to safety around my queerness; I know this and I'm insanely grateful for it. But that doesn't mean it was a super-fun picnic for even me, and when I think about what it would have meant for me to have more role models in the public eye...

So, thank you Chely, and Meridith Baxter, and Ricky Martin and all the rest (so many of you!) for not only coming out, but for not giving up during the decades you felt you couldn't. And thank you to all those other amazing people, too, who never felt like the closet could contain you. I'm grateful in ways I cannot articulate.

Given my obsession with icons lately, I was on this meme like sand on a beach. (Or stones on a beach if you live in Brighton, England.)


001. Reply to this post, and I will pick six-eight of your icons.
002. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
003. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
004. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon squee.


sorchasilver gave me the icons ( here )

Title: Give me a Hand
Fandom: Supernatural
Characters: (Spoiler for 5.20), Sam Winchester
Rating: Adult
Words: 600
Summary: Sam Winchester has hands that make a guy think.

( Give me a Hand )

for mmom day three