SEATTLE — My late mother's longtime boyfriend had two adult sons, one of who happened to be gay.
As kind and generous as my mother's friend, Mike, was to us for decades before his passing, he was older and raised overseas in a conservative country where homosexuality wasn't yet part of open conversation. So, he had trouble accepting his gay son's sexual orientation and made it obvious through actions and awkwardly timed words.
It took years before they could even dine together with us at home or in restaurants without getting into arguments, and years more of lobbying by all of us before the son's longtime male partner was allowed to join our evenings out. Even then, more time was needed before the subject of them being together could be broached openly with Mike at the table, uncomfortable as their presence made him — especially in public at a restaurant.
