Gayborhood

By Mister Curie

Madame Curie already posted her account of our recent trip to the Philadelphia gayborhood.  I wanted to add my own impressions. Things have actually taken a rather sudden turn toward exploring our respective sexual orientations.  That change seems to have been largely precipitated by our trip to NYC Pride.  I'm very grateful to have my wife back on this journey, if not exactly with me, then on a closely parallel journey.  We went on our date night to the Philadelphia gayborhood this past week.  Our future plans include another MoHo meet-up for our next date night, as well as plans to attend several films in the Philadelphia LGBT film festival that is coming up this next week.

For date night we went to the William Way LGBT Community Center.  It was very different that I had imagined it would be.  As we approached the entrance I suddenly felt a lot of apprehension and fear.  I wasn't exactly sure what to expect.  What would people think of us?  What questions might they ask?

My apprehensions, as usual, were largely unfounded.  The center was populated by normal individuals, no one questioned our presence or asked to see our "gay card".  We looked at some of the exhibits, and then made our way to the LGBT library, our expressed purpose for coming to the center.  The library was largely empty, except for the librarian.  She was very helpful and non-judgmental, even knowing we are husband and wife.  We were able to set up borrowing accounts without any questions and her demeanor did not change even when we checked out "When Husbands Come Out of the Closet" and "Married Women Who Love Women" simultaneously.  Perhaps we are more common than it seems.  According to the "When Husbands Come Out of the Closet" book, an estimated 20%-50% of gay men will attempt a heterosexual marriage, for a large variety of reasons.

It was momentous to visit the LGBT Community Center.  I think it was an important step for both of us in our "coming out" process.  It is nice to get connected to a support network and to find a library where I can go unashamed to get LGBT reading material.  And I'm so grateful that Madame Curie is along on this journey with me so that we can share our insights from the books we read with each other.