Dear Ron, Regarding your writing about gay fathers on Fathers Day, I am proud to admit to being in that group. But like many, I spent a lot of years of stress, being there. At an early age I tried to talk to my mother about my attraction to men, she wanted nothing to do with it, and suggested that I talk to my dad. End of subject. (At Right: What could be better than a dad? Two gay dads.)

With a lot of guilt, I married; in fact several times. It was not as if I was ignorant of man to man sex, in fact, when a teenage, none of the guys around me were immune to my desires; and many succumbed to my advances. I did most of them (and some, even after they were married).

In 1983, days after my mother died, I came out of the closet, and everything changed. It felt strange to be free to love a man, to fall in love with a man, and to equate that love as equal to that of married couples. The thrill of kissing a man and letting it be natural, a part of me, and letting go of that closet that I had practiced so long. To let go, and Love a Man, what a sense of freedom for this county boy who had always been beat down into submission; to fit in with society.

In December I will be 75. I live in Mobile Home Park that is an association. When I came in here five years ago, openly gay, and with my partner, they didn't want "our kind." We fought back, and we won. Then, one year later, at my partner's birthday party, all were invited, I kissed him openly with a show of love, right there in front of them all.

Today, I celebrate Fathers Day as a free gay man; mentally, spiritually, and lovingly. I count my blessings with 10 grandkids (two are gay), and I am on the Board of Directors of our Community Association, and we are "Gay Friendly."

Like Harvey Milk said, "Come out, Come out, where ever you are." And, damn it, fight for your rights. It will set you free, and you will love yourself, and love others like you have never loved before. Sincerely yours, Buddy