In Their Voice: Joe Peterson and Coming Out Day

So, see, I got last Sunday off. Honestly, I still don’t quite know what to do with myself ’round hear on Sundays. I’m used to spending pretty much the whole day at Worship and Sunday school. My bellyaching about me feeling kinda put out and off-slant on those days gets tiresome for Kabe, I get that. I try and keep it down, but still.

When I got my schedule for this month, Kabe took one look at it, saw my Sunday free and cut me off short.

“You just don’t worry about it, Joe.” He tells me. “We’re going to honor that day. I’m going to make it real special.”

Now I should know better than to trust Kabe at anything. Not that the boy suffers stupid. Naw, he’s just wily as all get out. And he’s running around being sneakier than a fox scoping out a hen house. Saturday he’s got to run himself down to Cedar City. Struck me as odd, ‘cause we just done a supplies run not to far back. When he hauls his can home, the boy is loaded up with boxes that he don’t want me to see.

I humored him. He’s trying to give my a fun time and I sure don’t want to spoil it for him. Covered my eyes like he asked and everything. Tells me I can’t look in the big freezer. I was tempted to sneak a peak, but I restrained myself.

Sunday rolls around. I wake up ‘bout my normal half-past six and Kabe’s already out of bed. Now, I’m suspicious right there. It takes my boot in his butt usually to get him out of bed before eight most days. Stays up late nights surfing porn or watching movies. One thing gets him out early on his own and that’s climbing. But, he hadn’t said nothing and his gear and mine is still racked in the back of the closet.

Took my brain a moment to fire up. When it did, howdy, something smelled good. Kabe’s working on a right fine breakfast down in the kitchen. He got all put out ‘cause he was going to bring it to me in bed. Well, I ain’t lazy. He is. Told him, “You should have got yourself an earlier start, boy.”

His smile, the one I hanker for so, went all wicked on me. “Well,” he huffed, “I was busy with other things.”

Rainbow Flag

‘Course, then I had to ask, “Like what?”

He just shooed me outside. Flying from this new flagpole on my porch is this American Flag…’cept the stripes is all rainbow. Dear Lord, the boy was on for killing me. “What the heck is that for?” I gotta ask why he got that fly up his butt.

Looking at me like I done lost my mind, Kabe laughs, “Well, duh.” He drawled it out like I was plumb loco or something, “It’s national coming out day. October 11.”

“They got a day for that?” I didn’t know.

That got Kabe lost so much in laughter that he done burnt the toast for breakfast. Then he goes on about how I should just have a real day being Gay and out and proud about it. ‘Course, he wasn’t none to amused when I told him I live being gay every time he goes down on his knees for me…so maybe he should start there. Stalked on into the kitchen then and served me up my burnt toast.

Kabe kept the tube on the National Equity March – satellite news channel and all. When Scott McCoy came up to bat, well, yeah, I turned up the sound. I mean, here I am in Utah with a church that don’t love me much…but we got ourselves a gay man as a Senator. There are some things right in the world.

He won’t let me do nothing for the rest of the day ‘cept laze about. Well, Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. Took a nap. Got a back rub and a little mutual blow-job action. Don’t think that last part was planned. Sometimes you just got to strike when the iron’s hot, though.

Then Kabe threw a DVD on, insisting on us watching something Gay…’cause it’s coming out day. He was a might disappointed that I’d seen Latter Days already as well as darn near all the old musicals. What the heck did he think they’d run on TV round here while I was growing up? And I got Netflix…so nobody but me knows what movies I got coming. So it ain’t like I’ve never seen none of them. Had to pop him one in the back of the head for that. But he’s on about how I have to see some classic gay movies. Took him five or six minutes of rummaging through his collection of DVDs his Grams had sent up to him.

Rock Horror Picture Show

So what we end up watching? The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

I ain’t never seen it before. Now, I ain’t none too sure about how ‘gay’ it was, but that had to be the strangest thing I’d ever watched. Never would have guessed that Tim Curry would go from being that to a darn good dramatic actor. All the while we’re chowing down on fresh crab and sour-dough bread his dad over-nighted him from San Francisco. Kabe, being Kabe, waits ’till I got my maw full of food and busts me with a question.

He’s pointing at the screen and Frankenfurter is sashaying down the stairs all got up, “You think I should parade around in a corset and heels for you like that?” Kabe snickers.

“Boy,” I growled after I got done choking, “you ever get up in a get-up like that and I’ll tar your butt with my belt.”

Then his tongue rolled out in front of his teeth. His grin got a mile wide. “Promise?” Oh, Lord what was I gonna do with that boy?

‘Round then it was time for bed. Y’all don’t need no more, ‘cept to know we got on a little more celebrating ’bout being out and being gay…at least being gay with him in my bed.