Mom Finally Became Ally for Gay Daughter [View all]

[marmar]

from New America Media:


Mom Finally Became Ally for Gay Daughter

New America Media / Salon.com, First Person
Jamilah King, Posted: Dec 26, 2011


“Are you going to that gay pride parade?” my mother asked late one morning as I was rushing off to work last June. For a moment, I didn’t know how to respond. I stopped in my tracks, looked back at her and mumbled something about how I’d probably be too busy and didn’t like big crowds anyway. Sensing my discomfort, mom nonchalantly added, “Well, if you decide to go, I could go with you.”

It was a watershed moment for both of us, one that proved that my mom had finally become my ally.

My mother and I had spent the better part of the past decade doing an awkward dance around my sexuality. Most of it was spent tripping over one another; me, nudging her toward acceptance by insisting on brunch with my girlfriend. Her, timidly mastering the Spanish pronunciation of my girlfriend's name. But usually, we were most in sync when there was silence. It seemed easiest to avoid the topic altogether.

For a while, it worked. She’s a single black mom and, as she likes to note, I’m her “only child in the land of the living.” We are, for all intents and purposes, each other’s anchors. The world was cruel to black girls, and wholly unforgiving to the black women they’d grow into, but we’d always had each other. The rhythm of both of our lives depended heavily on an undisturbed current. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://newamericamedia.org/2011/12/mom-finally-became-ally-for-gay-daughter.php