Small towns have a strange social ecosystem where everyone knows everyone, reputations are currency, and the mayor’s family is always being watched. It is a place where keeping up appearances is practically a civic duty, and where a son who does not fit the expected mould is a public relations problem. At least, that is how his father saw it.
When one young man came out to his parents, he was rewarded with a sobbing mother, a furious father, and a trip to the pastor. He sat through a living-room ambush full of people delivering Bible verses with pitying looks, but knew, deep down, he would find a way to get them back. The local pride rally provided it, and the local news station made it permanent.
