Grandma and Grandpa are out

[eridani]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004064151_loeb11.html

Gays and lesbians who married decades ago and had children now enjoy grandkids who know their story.

Back in the mid-1970s, Marian Mitchell was a single mother, a recent divorcee who emerged from the closet only on Saturday nights, heading down to Sneakers, a women's bar at Second and Market.

Once, Mitchell's daughter, then 9, asked, "Why don't you date boys?"

"Because Mommy likes girls," was the reply.

A generation later, Mitchell found herself fielding a new round of questions. "Mom-mom, what does LGBT mean?" her oldest granddaughter asked after seeing the acronym for lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered on a sign in Mitchell's kitchen.

But Mitchell no longer keeps her identity cloaked. After her longtime partner died in 1997, Mitchell decided it was time to come out. To everyone - including her grandchildren.

Mitchell, 55, coordinates the calendar for Amazon Country, a women's-music show on WXPN. Each month, members of the Lesbian Group of Montgomery County fill her Juniata living room for Rocky Horror theme parties or competitive puzzle-making nights. Her grandkids - 19-year-old Kimberly, 15-year-old Kayla, and 10-year-old Chaly - almost always join the festivities.
"When I was closeted, it was like living a double life," Mitchell said. "I never imagined being able to live so openly. It's so much easier to just be me."

"Lesbian grandmother" or "gay grandpa" used to sound like a contradiction in terms. But now gay grandfolk are a quietly emerging demographic - men and women who married in the 1960s and '70s, had children, and came out later, sometimes only after their children were grown.

[BayouBengal07]

1. Lemon Party, anyone?

:shrug:

[pnwmom]

2. That link didn't work for me, and I couldn't find it using search.

Can you find a better link?

Up till now, my father was the only gay grandparent I've known.

[eridani]

4. Dang. It was from Alternet. I'll look it up when I get home n/t

[Chovexani]

3. I worry about the LGBT seniors in "active living" communities and such

I remember an article being posted a while back about the discrimination and homophobia they face at their communities and why there's LGBT senior communities popping up now.