Jim Batty thought he was out for a nice dinner with his wife, Sheila, when the world as he knew it changed forever.I've met the Batty's in the past and it's nice to see such a positive piece about them and our community.
It was the fall of 1992 and they had a table by the window at Caffe Bellissimo. They hadn't gotten far into their meal when Sheila took a sledgehammer and hit him in the gut.
Well, not exactly. But the four words she said had a similar impact, he says now.
"Your son is gay."
This was their Jim she was talking about? Their only child? The one who would carry the Batty name to the next generation and present his parents with grandchildren?
No, that couldn't be true. They had dreams for their son and nothing about that word -- "gay" -- had ever been on the radar screen.
Jim couldn't control what happened next. He started to cry. And he couldn't stop.
"We left our table," Sheila said.
Looking back, Jim says his reaction was purely selfish. All he thought about then, he says, were the things he wanted and the way this news about his namesake made him feel.
They never considered rejecting their son. But Sheila says they both had to deal with powerful feelings. She was most concerned about her son's safety. Would he be able to get a job or find a place to live? Would somebody beat him up?
Read the rest HERE.
More later.
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I wonder how much rejection is based on the denial that this Jim (father) faced and admitted - that he first reacted based on it being about *him* and not about the son.
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