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When he invited me to come along, I was too intrigued to resist.
His pronouncements had an air of importance, the youthful conviction that his words had never been said before.
Josh explained the details of the action at a meeting, though the logic remained unclear to me.
The signs were meant to expose Ralph Reeds hypocrisy and Harvards disingenuousness for inviting him.
Though Reed seemed benign and respectable, he still reeked of the same homophobia as Phelps and his cronies.
The suit was an armor I didnt want, that cover of respectability and dominance as a man.
The group wasnt big, maybe twenty kids or so.
Maybe it was as simple as me having the right look, a studious blond man in conservative clothes.
I had my doubts as Reed started his speech.
Was this all a manifestation of Joshs ego?
Yet I also didnt have much to lose.
I was already queer, albino, poor.
I had no reputation to protect, no parental expectation to live up to.
We stood up to begin the kiss-in at the start of the Q&A.
Am I even a man?
I had never kissed a girl before, and Josh was the closest by far.
I tensed then, gripped his lips with the confident force of learning who I was between tongues.
Even when the guards tried to break us apart, our tensed arms held on to each other.
Our legs splayed as those guards pulled our feet from under us, and still we didnt let go.
Those guards had to carry us out of the room, entwined and horizontal.
Copyright 2020 by Meredith Talusan.
