My Truth Is That I Am A

I Realized That I Had Screwed Up My Life Living Different Parts Of My Life In Different Places. I Wasn't Whole. I Wasn't Integrated. I Wasn't A Complete Person. And After That, Came Out, Spent Some Time At A Psychiatric Hospital.

More Than Anything Else I Recall Being, Or Trying Very Deliberately To Be, A Perfect Child. Not A Goody Two-shoes, But A Kid Who Did Good, Who Worked Hard And Met Every Expectation. I Strove To Achieve In The Excessive Way That Psychotherapists Tend To Regard With Concern.

The Arc Of American History Almost Inevitably Moves Toward Freedom. Whether It's Lincoln And The Emancipation Proclamation, The Expansion Of Women's Rights Or, Now, Gay Rights, I Think There Is An Almost-inevitable March Toward Greater Civil Liberties.

My Truth Is That I Am A Gay American.

Of All My False Identities, The Strategies In My Campaign To Be Accepted, Being A Sworn Republican Is The Hardest To Explain. In My Later Political Life, I Can Only Be Described As A Kennedy Democrat, Eager To Pursue Equitable Treatment For The Least Fortunate.