The Colors of Hate - 41

“He got the photos, Dean,” Carrie told him the moment he opened his apartment door to let her in. “He just called me. He’s through the roof.”

“But privately?”

“Of course. Did you think…” She stopped, looking at him in horror. “You’re really going to do this, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, he is,” Kirby said, coming in from the living room. He checked his watch. “It’s almost five, Dean.”

With his arm around his sister’s waist, Dean led her into the living room while Kirby turned on the television to the local news.

After the usual headline stories, the anchorman looked seriously at the camera. “Most people know or have heard about the Classic Values Alliance, or CVA, an extremist group which is adamantly opposed to homosexuals and what they deem the ‘gay agenda’. It was founded by Pastor Louis Travers, who runs it from his church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Tonight we have an interview, taped just an hour ago, with his son, Dean Travers.” The picture switched to two people sitting in one of the station’s interview areas.

“Good evening, Dean. May I call you Dean?”

Dean nodded. “Good evening, Miss Nicholls.”

“To get right to the point, you have lived in the city for the past two years, working as a costume designer at the Front Row Theater.”

Dean nodded. “I have.” He smiled slightly. “I still am actually.”

“In all that time, you have never revealed what you are going to tell me to anyone. Correct?”

His smile broadened a bit. “This is beginning to sound like a police interrogation, but it’s true. I haven’t told anyone except two people who are very close to me.” He turned to look at the camera. “Now I’m telling the world. I’m gay. From now on this will no longer be a secret. Interestingly, if you want to look at it that way, my father Lou Travers is the founder of one of the most rabidly anti-gay hate groups in the country. A group which would, among other things, like to criminalize homosexuality.” Giving a slight wave at the camera he said, “Hi, Dad. Now you know. Your son is a criminal. An abomination in your eyes and those of your followers. But to those people who have an ounce of common sense, I’m just another man. One who happens, by nature, to be gay. It’s not a choice I made. It is who and what I am and always have been, and I’m tired of hiding the fact from those people I call friends and colleagues.” Turning back to Miss Nicholls he said, “And there you have it.”

“Yes we do,” she replied seriously. “One question. The CVA has a reputation for being, shall we say, less than accommodating to those they feel have betrayed their trust. Are you afraid they may come after you now?”

“Not afraid, just aware that it’s a possibility.” He turned to the camera again. “If they do, it will be on my father’s head.”

“Brave words.”

“And true ones.”

“Thank you, Dean, for allowing this interview.”

Dean smiled. “I think I should be the one thanking you.”