So much truth there, Evan McCoy! For the ten years I lived in New York City, I could go for days forgetting I was gay. If that makes any sense.

I mean, of course I was gay and so were all the gay people surrounding me. But we were NORMAL.

Being gay was ordinary and expected. Sometimes you had to ask, and it wasn’t an insult one way or the other. It was just one facet of being a whole person.

Now that I’m back the heartland, I’m “the gay guy” again, and that’s mostly OK. People are mostly nice. But … it’s not the same as being normal.