Born this way... The photos prove it!

I think there were many of us yesterday who got all excited about this blog. It’s brilliant stuff. Gay men and women sharing photos from their childhood which clearly demonstrates their burgeoning ‘gayness’. Boys in skirts and scarves, boys kissing male statues, girls on motorbikes - I love it! It is both hilarious and touching. Everyone has a story to tell and it is celebrated in these photos.

Courtesy of "Born Gay Born This Way"

And I would guess there is not a gay man in the country who does not have such a photo in their family album. Me, I’m guessing there are many. If only I had access to mum’s photo collection we could laugh at me for days. But the one thing that jumped to mind after reading this blog was not a photo but a much more damaging video. A video that I fear will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Courtesy "Born Gay Born This Way"

My cousins were very technologically advanced in the early 80’s and had this amazing video camera – it was the size of a watermelon and weighed even more. Regrettably we shot all family gatherings with it, including the fashion parades we’d put on for our parents. I blame my gorgeous cousins Trudy and Jill, because having girls to play with so close in age meant I had an outlet for my rampant campness. Of course being the oldest I would be the MC, describing in detail the outfits Trude and Jill would model from their wardrobes. All caught on camera! 

Me as 9 year old fashionista is a sight and sound to behold. I had a lisp that would make the biggest Oxford St twinkie feel butch. I could put an S in BRICK with that lisp. There are sweeping hand gestures, OTT vocab and a gayness that RADIATES! At one point my long-suffering mum can even be heard saying “Talk properly Steven”. The whole family look back at it now and it all makes perfect sense – I’ve been very gay for a very, very long time. For years this video has mortified me, especially when it’s shown to friends or boyfriends. It is now on dvd so it will live forever. Only now as a grown, somewhat-mature man can I truly see its value.

Courtesy of "Born Gay Born This Way"

I think I was as camp between the ages of 6-12 as I am now. Kids are fearless and they just do what is natural, what interests them. Go forth and express yourselves children! Do whatever you feel is fun! Cause this awful thing happens in adolescence – I blame pubic hair – where the need to conform becomes overwhelming. This is when kids with questions about their own sexuality struggle most. Everyone is pressured to be the butch sports star rather than the creative, expressive gay kid. Gays emerge from the awful cocoon of adolescenece as beautiful butterflies in their 20’s.  Me personally, I came out of the cocoon a dirty centipede who crawled his way into the Midnight Shift where thankfully the strobe lighting mad me look like a butterfly.

So today I want to celebrate all the camp, hilarious family photos taken of little boys wearing mums make-up or playing with Barbie. Not because they might grow up to be gay, but because they don’t know any better. Let them worry about all that conforming shit later.  Much later! And just one day they may grow up to be butterflies. If they are lucky.

P.S. One day I may be brave enough to share that video.


P.P.S But I'd still love to see your photos...