I'm excited to be on today with two longtime friends. They met in medical school in Beirut and have been together for 18 years. I jokingly call their story the worst one night stand ever– because 18 years, two countries, several cities, and two children later, they’re still going strong. Their story is beautiful, and it has it all – from years of one having no idea that the other was pursuing them, to long distance before they could be together, making hard decisions about love and career, navigating family and the world, and finally where they are now, bringing up their two little boys, starting with an adoption call that changed their lives forever.
I was 35 when I met a long-term gay woman couple for the first time, in which the women were significantly older than me. It brought to mind an Adrienne Rich quote about the consequences of invisibility and lack of modeling. It goes: “When those who have the power to name and to socially construct reality choose not to see you or hear you...when someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked in the mirror and saw nothing. It takes some strength of soul--and not just individual strength, but collective understanding--to resist this void, this non-being, into which you are thrust, and to stand up, demanding to be seen and heard.”
As those who’ve been listening to the podcast know, part of this project is to offer our stories to people like us and to the world. We are here. And it is my pleasure and privilege to be able to share about who we are.
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Instagram: @queereverythingpodcast
Website: http://www.queereverything.com
YouTube: Queer Everything
The Longest One-Night Stand Ever