As I was coming out of the closet, our car was hurtling over an embankment.

The bulk of my learning - if I may call it such - has come within the past three months, after I became a part of the fragile body of patients who make up an AIDS hospice. Here, surrounded by teams of supportive nurses, attentive doctors, and interns, one gently comes upon his own strengths and shortcomings.

Coming out involves varying degrees of difficulty that are affected by class, race, religion, and geography.

Unlike straight men, who have the luxury of being slobs because women usually expect them to be, gay men - whether preppies, fashion victims, or jocks - are thought to be more obsessed with how they look because they dress for themselves and, consequently, for each other.

When I think of Kansas, I think of family.

I've had so many parents ask me, 'So when should you talk about what it means to be gay or LGBTQ with a child?' I don't think there's any age that's too young.

Parents with meager means have the same aspirations for their children as other parents. Children from poor families have the same needs as other children.

But with two boys and a new puppy, we don't get out much. We're usually home doing stuff together as a family, like watching 'Modern Family.'