This May Be The Strangest Story I've Ever Told, On Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                             Coming on the heels of Tennessee Williams and "A Streetcar Named Desire," it is not surprising this should resurface in my memory.

                              Years before I met David--I would say maybe at least fifteen years ago--I was an habitue, at the LGBT Center, on West 13th Street.  Nothing unusual about that; if one were gay, lonely, needed support, or activity involvement, it was the natural place to go.

                                Finding me there during that period of my life was not unusual.  But what happened one night was.

                                The way I recall it, I just ducked in there one night--a week night--to use the facilities, before getting on the subway ride to back home, which, then, I believe, was Woodside, Queens.

                                 I had walked out of the first floor Men's Room, and was getting ready to leave, when I was approached by a middle aged married couple, and their apparently teen aged son.  What followed next was not expected.

                                  The parents seemed kindly and gentle.  The boy seemed accepting of the situation.  Now, I can be a bitch on here, sometimes, but I am genuinely good hearted, and maybe they sensed this.  Because they walked right up to me, a complete stranger, albeit gay, and asked if I would "take" their son.

                                    Let me make clear they were not procuring him, or offering him as sex traffic.  Though they never spoke above a hushed whisper, I sort of gleaned the situation--their son was gay, they could not, or, most likely, did not want to  handle it, and so they wanted, someone, anyone, to take him off their hands.

                                    Well, I have to confess, I was speechless.  I also considered it for just a second, but then reality set in--Who was this kid?  Maybe it was more than just being gay, he could also be violent and dangerous.  And I was hardly equipped to raise a teen!  I could barely take care of myself!
A pet would have been out of the question at the time, yet alone an adolescent gay boy!!!!!!!!!

                                       I kept refusing, they kept imploring, until I realized the only solution was just to walk out.  I fled; fortunately, I was not followed.

                                        But this has stayed in my mind all these years.  This was an act, because all that gentility on the parents' part masked hatred, and they boy's acceptance masked a broken heart.

                                         I have no idea where they were from, but it was not New York.  They did not have the savvy of urban dwellers, who, faced with this situation, might have considered more sensible channels to pursue if they wanted to disown their child.

                                         Not that people in New York like this don't exist.  But their dress, their manner, suggested a good deal's distance from here.

                                        Which makes me wonder how such unsophisticated folk as they would have even known about the LGBT Center!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          As time receded, I was, and still am, haunted by these events!  What kind of parents would walk into a strange place, and offer their child to a total stranger?  Who knows what happened, after I left?  And who knows who that boy ended up with?  At least, I was not a pedophile or killer.  But could they be sure the next person approached wasn't?  Did they even care?

                                          I still think about this, years later.  I wonder what happened to that poor, unfortunate boy--a Tyler Clementi type--and hope he found acceptance and peace, putting distance between this cruel duo, who were undeserving of him as a son!

                                           This marked a new low in what I had heard, and now seen, in the spectrum of parents rejecting their gay children!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                            I shall never forget this. And never stop wondering about that boy, and those parents!!!!!!!!!!!!!