I recall reading about the Stonewall riot in the New York Times in June 1969, and thinking, “Cool. We finally fought back. It’s about time.”
I was deeply closeted at the time, working as a cub reporter for my hometown newspaper in New Hampshire, where there was (and is) no gay life visible to any kind of queer eye.
In September, I was heading back to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., the essence of urbanity. Our joke was motorists would drive into the heart of the campus and holler out, “Where’s George Washington University?!” There was nothing openly gay in all that concrete and clay, either.