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It all started during a vacation from marriage.
Not mine—Lucy Ricardo’s.
Naturally, Ethel takes a hiatus
from her husband too,
and Lucy moves in with
—though not in on—
her gal pal.
But all hope is not lost,
least of all when Lucy lets loose
with this loaded remark: I hope you boys
are going to have as gay an evening
as we are.
(You know, they really were pioneer women, those two,
what with all the accidental advocating they did
for marriage equality.)
Okay, so maybe that remark really wasn’t so gay,
given the time period in which it was uttered,
but I chose to take it the right way:
as permission to
define,
refine,
and redefine
my sexuality.
I could do more than identify
as a member
of the LGBT community.
I could ident-defy:
as
Liberated,
Grateful,
Bodacious,
and Tenacious.
Seeing this revelation
as cause for celebration,
I went singin’ in the rainbow
that I prefer dolls to guys.
Mama said there’ll be gays like this:
those who embrace their sexuality straight away,
not only because they’ve figured out
that the bloom is off the heteros;
but also because,
in the words of midcentury chanteuse Dinah Washington,
What a diff’rence a gay makes
or, you know, something a little more fifties-friendly
like:
I love lezzie and she loves me
Queer as happy as two can be…