I'm From Driftwood is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit archive for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer stories. New stories are posted on the site every Wednesday.
Overall, Albert Eisenberg had a pretty great coming out experience and was given lots of support by his family and friends. There were two experiences he had, though, that show that there's still a lot of progress that needs to happen in terms of LGBTQ acceptance and understanding. The first experience was with his aunt Marianne, whom Albert describes as a supporter of gay rights. Albert recalls:
[S]he goes, "So, you're already 'Albert the Jew' and 'Albert the [Georgetown University] Hoya.' When's it going to be OK to call you 'Albert the Faggot'?"
And I am on the other end, I pause, and I'm just like, "Never, Aunt Marianne. It's never going to be OK to call me 'Albert the Faggot.'"
A similar experience happened with a classmate at Albert's high school graduation party. Albert's classmate, Julien, attempted to give him a compliment but ended up insulting effeminate gay men. Albert stopped him and corrected him:
I said, "You know, actually, you're not giving me a compliment right now. That's actually an insult to gay people, that you are sort of the arbitrator of and the ultimate judge of what is an acceptable gay person and what isn't an acceptable gay person."
And he's like, "No, no, no, that's not what I meant!"
With all the victories the LGBTQ community has been seeing politically, Albert's story shows there's still a ways to go socially.
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