I Got It From My Mama.

I've said for years that it's my moms fault I'm queer.

My mother was a stay at home mom, setting aside her education to raise myself and my sister, and taking care of my grandmother who was dying of cancer. We became close at a young age and spent lots of time together shopping, watching soap operas, and cleaning the house.

My mother loved disco. In fact her and my father were avid disco dancers and spent many weekends Thanking god its Friday and burning up their Saturday night fever. My mother had a massive collection of disco records. Not just the usual K-Tel compilations everyone housewife had, but the full on 12" extended dance mixes with the (often instrumental) b sides. I remember my favorites:


Donna Summer - Macarthur Park

The Trammps - Disco Inferno

Chic - Dance Dance Dance (Yowza Yowza Yowza)

Santa Esmeralda - The House of the Rising Sun

Diana Ross - Upside Down

We listened to disco records all the time, joyously singing along with Labelle, Diana Ross, Chic, the Bee Gees, the Village People and Leo Sayer. My mother would practice her dance moves with me. At just the tender age of five I could do the Fox Trot, the bump (one of my favorites) and both the traditional and Latin hustles.

I can't be the only one noticing a campy pattern developing...

My favorite singer was the same as my mothers, The original Lady Di, Ms. Diana Ross.

We listened to her as my mother taught me how to clean the house, serenading each other with such classics as "It's my Turn", "All of my Love", and my personal childhood favorite "Theme from Mahogany (do you know where your going to?)" We took turn sharing solos passing our feather duster microphone back and forth and practicing our synchronized back up dancer moves. We often ended our supreme cleaning sessions with a heartfelt rendition of "Endless Love"

I never stood a chance at the straight life...

Years later my sister and I would dance and sing along to the Diana Ross & the Supremes Farewell album (the 20 minute live version of "The Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine In" was one of our favorites). She was even better at coming up with synchronized back up dancer moves than my mom was.

To this day I still love Diana Ross and think she's one of the most beautiful woman in the world (besides my mother & sister)


In a fitting twist of serendipity "Endless Love" is just ending my Diana Ross playlist.


Funny how I never got into "I'm Coming Out" until many years later...