Day: June 3, 2025

If you were gay!

/ fightmasterwrites / Leave a comment

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

I’m going to bet that most gay men remember very well the first time they were called a f*g.

For me, it was my sophomore year of high school, on the bus from the high school to Sadieville Elementary.

I have no idea why the asshole in the back of the bus singled me out.

I have no idea why it was just me.

I do know that it really all started when I bought a pair of L.L. Bean boat shoes.

Within two days of wearing them to school, the abuse started. Hey F*gmaster. Nice f*g shoes.

He was in the back seat. I was in the second seat from the front.
It was unrelenting.

I would sink into the seat, looking around. No one ever came to my defense. No one ever asked him to stop, including the bus driver. I would pray that it would only be him and that he wouldn’t decide to beat me up.

It always helped that the bus driver let those of us who lived in Sadieville proper, off at the train tracks at the bottom of the hill to save us a walk. I never got to experience this guy when he was getting off the bus.

What’s funny, is looking back I’m grateful it wasn’t worse. I skated under the radar for most people. If they knew they didn’t let on. I wasn’t teased at school. I wasn’t bullied. My parents were too busy doing their own shit to concern themselves with my sexuality.

40 years later, it isn’t so bad.

At the time, it was pretty awful.

When was the first time for you?

Why are there so many songs about rainbows?

/ fightmasterwrites / Leave a comment

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

I’m pretty sure I’ve shared this post before but it’s always worth repeating.

From 1995 until 1998 I taught lighting design at the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts. SCPA.

Who knew that a high school could have a teacher dedicated to all things lighting. It was a life changing adventure and I’m proud to say that my past students are spread to the far reaches of the US, still doing amazing things.

I had been mostly out of the closet before I moved to Cincinnati and I wasn’t about to walk back in and start hiding again. One of the first things I did was put a rainbow sticker on my car.

I’ve never been a huge rainbow flag person, but at the time, I thought it was important to own who I was.

First semester of my second year there, I was teaching an intro class to a group of 7th graders. I was taking roll, going through my grade book (I still have them by the way, if any of my students want to know how they did back then).

I got to a young girl, who said she was here and then asked me if the red escort station wagon in the parking lot was mine.

I replied, yes it was. I called it my family car. When I bought it, I couldn’t afford a truck and I needed a way to cart students and lights around to projects I worked on.

The girl started to giggle and and hid her mouth behind her hand and said, so is that the one with the rainbow sticker on the back. Hehehehehe.

I said yes it is. Why do you ask?

Hehehehe, I was just curious, she said, still giggling.

She was trying to be passive aggressive, emphasis on the aggressive and I was having no part of it.

I said, Do you know what the rainbow flag stands for?

She really started to giggle then and wouldn’t answer.

I didn’t wait long before I continued, the rainbow symbol was adopted by the great Reverand Jesse Jackson as a symbol to celebrate and encourage diversity. I have the sticker on my car, because I teach in a very diverse school and I want all of my students to know that I appreciate who they are no matter what.

She stopped giggling and stared at me.

I looked at the whole class and said, does anyone else have a question about the rainbow sticker on my car?

Then, let’s get started.

What are the four qualities of light?