Animal Instincts II

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- Rose - Hi!

- This is so weird. - Yeah.

Truthpaste: it never actually occurred to me

that I might see somebody I know at one of these.

Yeah.

- So, you're... - Oh yeah, I'm totally gay.

I think my mom is still in the

"pretending to be OK with it" stages.

But uh... those two men that you came with, are they... ?

Oh no! No, that's my dad and his friend.

Mmm, his "friend".

No! I mean, he really is just his friend.

I recently came out to my dad.

No way! That's awesome!

I guess.

And your mom, does she know?

No...

I don't have a mom, she... died.

Ooh!... I'm sorry.

It's just me and my dad.

Wherever he is.

Your dad?

Oh, no.

My dad's not really a part of my life.

It's mostly just me, my mom and my brother.

And as freaked out as my mom is, at least she's playing along.

I don't know how my dad will take it.

This is the second meeting we've been to and it's been really good.

She's really learning.

- Oh my god, I'm talking too much. - No, it's OK, um...

I get really quiet when I'm nervous.

OK everyone!

Let's get back. It's an emotional night,

we have other stories to hear.

So let's get back in the circle.

Are you gonna share?

I don't know...

OK... See ya...

Hi, my name is Maureen.

I am a PFLAG Mom.

Many of you already know me, and my son David.

He came out here tonight.

He's the reason I joined PFLAG.

And, he's the bravest person I have ever known.

David came out when he was in high school.

And he'd go to school every day and he was terrorized.

Every single day.

They would call him names, they would push and shove him.

Make him feel worthless.

And he didn't get any help.

Anyone. Not even from his teachers.

He was alone.

Oh, I tried to deal with the school system, but, you know,

I couldn't affect change.

He was robbed of his education,

youth,

joy.

And he didn't get much relief at home either.

When I wasn't around, his siblings were as unkind to him

as the people at school.

And then, there is my ex-husband.

He thought the only way to deal with it was to

beat the gay out of him.

It was about that time, that David...

... my baby,

my boy,

... left school and didn't finish.

He moved to Toronto, from Chatham, where we used to live.

And he disappeared.

He was gone for a whole year.

He was only 17.

And I couldn't find him.

Oh, I looked, I scanned the faces,

everywhere, everytime. But I couldn't find him.

Where he was, what he did that year.

I won't ever know.

Because he doesn't talk about it.

But I do know that he started cutting.

And he considered suicide.

I'm sorry, honey, am I saying too much?

No! No, go on.

He finally came home to even more trouble.

He tried to reconcile with his dad.

And ended up hospitalized.

Now I know my son is not

the only brave one in this room.

I look around the room and all the faces, and I

see a lot of the stories are the same.

But I cry because...

when I think about, and I talk about

how hard it is for a mother,

... to see that pain,

... and not be able to fix it.

I'll never know what he goes through.

But he's the bravest person I know.

I don't think I need to introduce myself.

If it's alright, I'd like to tell a fun story.

I've got a lot of serious stories.

But I think I'd like to tell about the first,

well, my first dance with a boy.

So, grade ten. I was sixteen years old... I was out.

I was fabulous.

And I had a pretty good group of friends.

There was a new guy to the group.

Let's call him J.

J was absolutely and utterly beautiful.

He was 6'3", 190lbs, all muscle.

He had blonde straggly hair.

And the most beautiful hazel eyes I'd ever seen.

Needless to say, I was head over heels, the moment I saw him.

As was every other girl.