This thread on BlueSky caught my attention…

I had it good in the early 1970s in that I was living in a pretty well educated and liberal part of the country, and my classmates were all very cool about the whole thing. But I still felt that social static in the air all around me. You got a torrent of it from the media and pop culture.

The 80s weren’t much better, and in some ways they were worse because those were the Reagan years and the time of the AIDS epidemic. That scene of Will coming out to the others felt completely real to me, down to the detail that he doesn’t actually Say he’s gay, just that he doesn’t like girls…that way. It was a hard thing for people to be out with back then, and that first step, coming out to yourself and trying not to hate yourself, was the hardest part for many.

I was so very lucky that it hit me the way it did. And maybe for having the stubborn streak I do. That moment of first love for me was wonderful. But even so I knew I had to be careful. Very, very careful. I never did find a boyfriend. At least, according to the storyteller, Will does.