
My Mother Coming Out
“Would you like your daughter to be different?” She pauses. She takes a breath, she nods, and with inner resistance she admits, “Yes, in some parts yes”. That was my mother, once asked in a group of people to answer whether she likes me exactly as I am. This was a difficult and pivotal moment in my life. I was not prepared to listen to my mother speak for me in public, I was not afraid of it either. I think this was probably the first time she was doing that and I have never thought of this question being answered by her. Here I was, sat down at my chair, listening without any warning something that I have never thought of asking my mother directly, but what a question,…