I have watched Karen McCrocklin’s TEDxTalks a few times now, because I can’t seem to get enough. She talks about how being gay is the best thing that ever happened to her. I keep asking myself if I feel the same way. I don’t. Not yet. Why? Because I refused to come out even to myself until I was about 40 and was watching my mother dying. My friend Scott McPherson said when his brother was killed in an accident, he decided to come out of the closet. Scott was around 21 years old at the time. I am sure it was a difficult decision to come out. He was smart, incredibly funny and about the cutest guy you ever wanted to meet. He wrote a famous play, Marvin’s Room, which was made into a movie and then he died very young of AIDS. I remember my mother asking me if he had a girlfriend when we were in our twenties. I said, “Scott isn’t going to have a girlfriend.” My mother flew into a LOUD kind of talk. “Is he gay?! Well, that poor mother!!!” I didn’t want to tell my mother that not only did she herself have a son who was gay, but her daughter was possibly gay as well. The very thought of it scared me. I thought that if I'm gay, I will have to kill myself. That’s how scared I was. Now, my mother was a great lady, but that would have taken her some time to get used to. A lot of time. I almost told her before she died, but I couldn’t. So now after being out for about 16 years, I watch Karen’s talk. It’s pretty spectacular and I recommend you take a look. But when I say, I am out, I am not really out. I worked a job for about 5 years and I told my supervisor, who said not to tell anybody else that worked there. It would have made things much more difficult on the job I guess. I was in a relationship with a beautiful lady at the time, and I didn't tell my co-workers. My friends know. My family knows. But I waited and outed myself once I felt safe. I have played it safe for many years. I used to listen to Karen’s radio show on Hay House Radio and she would start out the show saying, “It’s a great day to be gay.” It wasn’t sunshine and pink flowers. She spoke honestly and with a great deal of humor. The last thing she says in this video is, “My name is Karen. And being a lesbian is the best thing that ever happened to me." I have had the honor of connecting with Karen and when I saw this I told her I wish I'd of had her courage many years ago. She replied, "You have it now."
My name is Chris and being gay is the best thing that ever happened to me.
