Here’s a list of every openly queer person I knew when I was 15: That’s it. None. Not even myself. Oh sure, Paul Lynde and Liberace were flouncing on television; closer to home, a boy I kept my distance from decoupaged his notebooks.
But even if they really were what people whispered or snarled about them, it was not then an identity they would dare to acknowledge.
Nor would I. Unable to see through their closet doors to the truth of what their lives might be, I did not have the benefit of their stories, which meant not having the benefit of my own.
Cut to today, 50 years later. Another 15-year-old boy — like me intense, unathletic and bullied — is the lead character on “Heartstopper,” a hit teen romance.