"Your Dad is gay too?"
Yep. So is my brother. Gay just seems to run in our family.
For me, being a "second generation" queer means I've been going to Pride longer than I've been out. It means that I've been shaped not just but my dyke peers but also by my father's network of gay men. It means that I listen to showtunes more than I listen to the Indigo Girls, and my queer cultural references are about a decade or two off my friends.
It also means that my brother and I feel a deep connection to queer history. And with it, a great responsibility.
As second generation queers, we are generational links in our community. We have the opportunity and the challenge to share our experiences growing up in the queer community with our peers. To pass on the oral history, the culture and the politics.
Of course not all second generation queers have the same story. In fact, a number of my friends came out first... only to have their parent to come out later. Adding a whole other twist...
come back next week with for an interview with Dan Cherubin,, founder of the first Second Generation group and zine.