I was out... But not to my parents. I'd been active in the gay liberation movement for 6 years or so, having started the student organization at Illinois State University in November 1971. (By the way, the same group, after several name changes, is STILL there, and STILL funded by student fees.... I think it may be one of, if not the, oldest college/university gay organizations is continual operation.)
But I digress.
I was thru college, thru grad school, and living on my own in York, Pennsylvania in my first professional job when I heard of Word Is Out being released. I'm guessing I heard about it at the American Library Association Social Responsibilities Roundtable session at the ALA convention that summer....
Anyway, I learned that it was going to be aired on PBS. So I decided to use it as a means of coming out to my parents who lived in a Chicago suburb. I sent them a letter, telling them that the film would be on TV on whatever night it was being broadcast.... And asked them to watch, as I thought they would learn about me, if they did so.
I didn't hear from them after that.... For many weeks.... Eventually, I got a letter from my mom, that she and Dad had watched it, (and The Naked Civil Servant, which apparently aired immediately afterwards). And that they weren't surprised.
That's all I recall of the letter. We never discussed it, the film, the letter, or my being gay again.
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deg farrelly, Phoenix, AZ
