I’m From Denver, CO. Club Stars was the last of the 3.2 alcohol gay teen bars in 1990, located just west of lower downtown Denver in the railroad yard just off the old 20th Street viaduct. My friend Kyle, a 24-year old blond guy that I had met at the Aurora Mall, suggested it would be a good idea for me to go there and meet some friends my age. The club itself wasn’t that spectacular. It was an old tire warehouse that had been painted all black on the inside with a dance floor at the far end and a bar, lit with Christmas lights, along one wall. Tom, the owner, was a large German man in his mid-thirties with broad shoulders, paunchy stomach and one semi-lazy eye. Situated at the cashier door, he intimidated the hell out of me with his towering ego, large crossed arms and a thick, throaty laugh.

I’m From Silver Spring, MD. Ring!Ring!Ring! I wake violently to the relentless ringing of my alarm clock. I stumble from my warm bed, only to find my toes greeted by a cold floor. “Seth…it’s time to go!” my moms voice echoes from down the stairs. The burnt dawn creeps through my shades. “Seth…let’s go” again echoes her voice. I pull on my pants. I smush my hair flat and I wearily walk down the stairs.

I’m From New York, NY. That night it happened, that night I had my gay epiphany, was a brutal, agonizing downer. I was an emotional wreck — disgusted, appalled, frightened. And all I’d done is admire a man, an athlete, a member of the NY Knicks. That night, so long ago, 25 years to be exact, is chiseled deep into my memory. It’s there, forever. I was at Madison Square Garden, with some guys, a Knicks game. I was bored, detested basketball, so silly, men running up and down the court in their underwear, fighting over a ball. Please!

I’m From Oakville, ON, Canada. It was on a trip to London with some of my close friends from school. Just us drama kids in England for a week. When we first arrived we met our tour guide, Christian, who I right off the bat knew was gay. He introduced himself and started telling us a little bit of what he had planned for the group for the next couple of days. It wasn’t until 2 or 3 days into the trip that I started talking to Christian more. I didn’t bring a ton of extra money on the trip and wanted to save the most I could for shopping. So needless to say, I wasn’t going out for expensive lunches everyday with the rest of the group, although Christian would always offer to take me to different places to grab a quick and cheap bite to eat.

I’m From Brooklyn, NY – Video Story. I never really felt like being gay was so political until I went to the Archives — the Lesbian HerStory Archives — for the first time. It’s just like a magical kind of place. It’s an archive, it’s like a library of all lesbian-specific books and articles and pictures and videos and just going through all that stuff and realizing the shoulders that I’m standing on, and all the work that people did so I can be where I am and gay youth can be where they are.