When my son came out, I found myself quickly learning how to navigate a new world where he might not be given the same rights and opportunities I expected for him. I was lost in a storm of rhetoric and hate pushing back against my child’s future.
Then we found Joe Wilson, a filmmaker, and his husband Dean Hamer. Joe’s film, "Out in the Silence" portrayed LGBTQ+ issues in a rural U.S. town similar to our own. The film captured the transformative power of open dialogue with those who don’t share your beliefs.
Hamer’s work as an openly gay Harvard-educated scientist served as an example that my son could succeed in whichever career he choose. At a time when marriage was not federally legal, Wilson and Hamer’s decades-long relationship showed us that a full life was possible for LGBTQ+ people even with these restrictions.
