It was September of 1999 when I made my first trip to California. My sister and my cousin, Sheri, hosted my visit and provided me with the perfect California experience. Part of that experience was seeing San Francisco, Muir Woods, and the coastline drive on Highway 1. I got to do that all over again yesterday as my friend Viv toured my friend Chris (Red Hog Diary) and I around the Bay Area. We did Viv’s famous 3-bridge tour—coming into San Francisco on the Bay Bridge, touring the City heading over the Golden Gate into Sauselito, and heading home via the Richmond bridge. Viv’s expertise was much needed. She traversed the city streets with ease and managed to cover all the major tourist points. Our day culminated with a walk through the Redwoods and then a brief foot dipping in the Pacific at Stinson Beach.
By lunchtime, we had reached The Castro, the “gay” area of San Francisco. Chris got a quick history lesson on some of our country’s gay history and struggle. We lunched at Harvey’s, the establishment named in honor of murdered San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. Milk, owner of the Castro Camera Shop, and who was called “The Mayor of the Castro,” and also was the first openly gay man serving in public office when he died in 1978 at the hands of deranged former Supervisor and police officer Dan White. White also killed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in the incident. White, as some might remember, used the infamous “twinkie defense,” saying he was hopped up on sugar and couldn’t control himself. After being released from prison, White took his own life.
What also strikes me is that every time I go anywhere with either Viv or Chris, they end up engaging multiple people in conversation. Me, I’d just have eaten my sandwich. On this occasion, we were sitting next to two tables of different folks who all ended up entertaining me throughout lunch. By the end of lunch, Chris and Viv had their life stories down to where there parents lived. Later in the day, on the trip home, I heard Chris speaking to his daughter on the phone. It went a little something like this:
CHRIS: Hey, California is awesome, you have to come with me next year.
DAUGHTER: Did you see a lot of gay people?
CHRIS: Yeah, I saw a lot of different kinds of people.
DAUGHTER: How did they look?
CHRIS: They looked happy.
DAUGHTER: That is so cool.
What I get from this is that our next generation, because of parents like Chris, will understand differences and not fear them, which will help make this world a better place for all of us to live.
Oh…and I learned how to text message yesterday!
The most important political step that any gay man or lesbian can take is to come out of the closet. It's been proven that it is easier to hate us and to fear us if you can't see us.
~ Amanda Bearse
~ Amanda Bearse
Published on: Jul 22, 2006
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