We went to see the movie “Rocketman” yesterday. It was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. I loved the spectacle of it. And the music. I think that the main actor, Taron Egerton, made smart choices. The writing was good. I’m glad they didn’t whitewash things.
I am a HUGE Elton John fan. Have been since I was a teenager. Spent last night listening to some of the albums I still have – like “Captain Fantastic,” “Rock of the Westies,” and “Single Man.” When I was a teen, I think I owned everything he’d ever recorded. I haven’t replaced all those LPs with CDs. I’m going to give a listen to some of those older songs and see if I want to. (I don’t listen to music like I used to.)
Elton had a huge influence on me as well. Back in 1976, when I was 15, Elton came out as bisexual. I remember hearing the news and being all excited.
You have to understand – I’d read a lot of Heinlein when I was a kid. I firmly believed that loving both men and women was normal.
When Elton came out like that, I finally had a word for what I felt, that would explain why I wanted to kiss not only my best friend’s brother, but my best (girl) friend as well.
However, all my girlfriends at the time turned against Elton when he came out that way. I stayed very quiet that night. I remember just sitting in a corner not speaking. I never told them a thing. I didn’t tell anyone for a very, very long while.
Times have changed. Looking back, I know that my parents would have been fine with it. My father campaigned hard to get his church to become open and affirming and to perform gay marriages. (Imagine this white-haired old man with twinkling blue eyes standing up in front of his congregation and asking, “Why can’t we let these people love? What’s wrong with love?”)
After my second marriage ended, before I met Blaze, my eldest brother told me that he understood that there was a 50/50 chance that I’d bring home a woman and not a man the next time I decided to get serious.
My friends know, or have guessed. But I’ve never posted widely about this.
This is not a political blog. It’s never going to be. If we lived in a different political environment than the one we’re currently in, I quite possibly would never have posted this story.
But times have changed. And at this point, even those of us who believe that it’s nobody’s business who or what we’re fucking as long as it’s consensual, still need to speak up.
I’ve been bisexual since I was a little girl. My earliest sexual memories involve women. I’ve always been interested in both men and women. I happened to end up with a man for my final partner, but that isn’t to say that I wouldn’t have ended up with a woman. Blaze just happened to fit the bill. Right person at the right time.
If any of the above bothers you? You should just unfriend me right now. This is who I am.