Elliott and I were quiet for several decades due to the fear of losing our jobs or from fear of being friendless. We felt like the LGBTQ community would never have a real voice in America. But after seeing that equality was actually possible a few years ago, we realized that being silent equaled death. We spoke out loud and we began to live loud as a wonderful man, Ed Madden, in South Carolina, taught us to do. And we won.
We indeed have pride and we celebrate this event all over the world. For generations, our culture has taught about the shame of being gay. In our states of the South, the fight continues. We now live in Florida with a loving and supportive community in Sarasota. Today, I can check the box "married" at any place we go and today we can now be southern, Chrisitan, and queer.
How about that?
Clark West and Elliot Mitchell are ACLU supporters who live in Sarasota, Florida.