Secret #13: The Forbidden Boyfriend
Like that old Cars song: "...it takes a fast car, baby...to lead a double life..." Man, they weren't kidding. Hell, it's hard enough these days, just ask johnspiff and listen to his DADT podcast. Back about 10 or 12 years ago it was insanely difficult. Fortunately, i was stationed in Germany all those years and just went native. Being "straight" or being "gay" became mostly a matter of what language i was speaking. If i was speaking english, i was at work or with other Americans - read: "other GIs" - and so i was the butch Platoon Sergeant. At home or when i was with friends, i was speaking German so i could relax and be gay. It also helped that i lived in Mannheim and worked in Heidelberg, about 20 minutes away. (You can Googlemap 'em, if you like). When we were out at the bar with our friends and an American came in - you could ALWAYS spot the American - i would refuse to speak anything but german to them and let my friends check them out first. i didn't want to know any gay servicemen. If i didn't know them, they wouldn't know me and if they got caught, mine would not be one of the names they'd be coerced into giving. Now, there were exceptions - there always are - but for the most part it worked. i made it, didn't i? So suck on that, Uncle Sam.
BTW, this is Egon. You might recall that i got to spend the weekend with him and his new boyfriend last December when i was working in Switzerland. This picture would be about '96 i think, in the Provence in the south of France. We saw this sign on a country road and had to stop for a picture.
EDIT: i added an addendum to this secret which ups the "fierceness level" that you can read here.
You can see all 30 of my secrets here.