Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Some people from work have seen me sing in the gay men’s chorus, so… Yeah. I’m kinda outed.
Not that I’m completely in– I don’t lie about being gay or hide behind fake girlfriends or anything. I just don’t really talk about that part of my life in my work environment. Partly because I don’t care enough about anyone I work with to share that side of myself.
But mostly because I work in a very conservative, family owned, blue-collar manufacturing environment.
The first instance involved a concert-goer. I was in the lobby after our Saturday night performance when this older woman came up and congratulated me. And then she introduced her husband– whom I work with at my company. He recognized me and was wondering if it would be okay to come up and say hi.
Although it caught me off-guard, I just smiled and thanked them both profusely for coming. It turns out the woman has been a season ticket holder for years and her brother has been singing in the chorus for over two decades (he’s got an incredible voice). And the guy I work with loves our concerts!
The second “outing” was more of a surprise and much less expected.
I was in my office on Monday when the head of one of our manufacturing departments popped into my office and blithely said, “So, you were singing a bit this weekend.”
This one really caught me off guard. I instantly figured he had probably seen me on the TV broadcast, so I said, “I didn’t figure you would be up that early on a Saturday and watching news.”
But the unexpected part was he didn’t seem weirded out or disgusted. He just said, “You guys sounded good. They kept you guys on a long time.”
Then we chatted a bit about music in general before I moved the conversation back to work issues.
Even though I’m slightly nervous (because this guy tends to run his mouth a bit) I think him approaching me the way he did was perhaps his way of letting me know that he knows, and he’s ok with it.
I guess I’ll have to wait and see if there’s any fallout. Especially given some of the Obama-hatin’, gun-totin’, bigots I work with.
The perils of being a fag on TV, I guess.
Mangina Monologues 
I have been out for a number of years, at my last job just by talking about my partner the way everyone else talked about theirs. No one blinked. (Of course, it was a library situation, not manufacturing.) When the Supreme Court ruled for marriage last summer, however, my husband (by then we had gone out of state and done the deed) was asked if we would be interviewed for a Madison television station. I was a bit taken aback, but I went along with it and all turned out well. Over the course of the next week, a number of people mentioned seeing us on the news. But I imagine most of them knew it anyway.
Sing on!
you’re gay?
Great news on all counts!
I hope everything turns out perfectly for you.
oh brother…I hope your work environment doesn’t suddenly turn hostile against you.