Ransom’s class gave a group recital last Monday night and,
being the good faculty spouse I am, I was there. It was thoroughly enjoyable:
flute and piano mostly, two flutes and piano a couple of times. The pianist was
the brilliant Tim Hester, a long time friend up from Houston, who stayed with
us. After the concert everyone went out for pizza, but there are limits – I
went straight home.
On the way in – to Sudler Hall in W. L. Harkness Hall, the
space where Ransom and I were first married, 16 years ago – I ran into Jake,
one of Ransom’s students. He was chatting with his folks, up from New Jersey
for the event, and introduced me to them, using the line above. We visited for
a few minutes and then went in to hear the music.
That introduction grabbed me. The ease with which Jake, a
straight young man in his twenties, referred to me as Ransom’s husband was noteworthy. Not to him
maybe; he likely would say “of course he’s his husband, what else would he be?”
But to gay folks of my age, that simple introduction encompasses a breathtaking
history of struggle and change.
At another university in another state at a different time gay students were not even allowed to meet as a group to discuss our common
experiences. Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in the 1970s was a
radically different place from Yale University in the 2010s. America today is a
radically different place than it was in the 1970s.
Young people tend to take their current experience for
granted, assuming things have always been this way. We on the far side of our
youth remember all the steps it took to get us here. It’s been a long, strange
trip indeed, but a very satisfying one.
Ransom and Jake, flutes; Tim, piano; John, page turner
I remember on long slow nights as a bartender, I used to read the regulations from the Liquor Control Board (or whatever it is called in Virginia) and was appalled to find the regulations were written so it was illegal for a bar to employ a 'known homosexual'.
ReplyDeleteOf course, in Charlottesville several restaurants, particularly 'fine dining' would have been stripped of staff had this been enforced but it was on the books. I wonder if that has been changed?
It is wonderful that there are places this is happening. We just need to get to the point (probably not in your or my lifetime) where it is commonplace rather than exceptional.
Hmm, what if you hired an "unknown homosexual"? Unknown to himself or herself? Unknown to you?
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