I found the Congressman’s essay achingly beautiful. With such a recent and raw loss, his father needed to paint what he saw as a fuller picture of his son’s strengths and accomplishments (which were frequently altruistic in a very material world), needed to celebrate his life, needed to let the world know he was more than his self-induced ending. It was devastating for me and even more devastating for his parents. I lived through the impact of a long-term ex-partner’s suicide three years after we broke up. But you and I do not know so stop posting like you do. He could have enjoyed fully consenting pussy aligned with his leftie credentials. The three pics of this man are not an accurate measure of his sexuality. I’m a 54 year old gay man who like many of you often joke about cookie smellers signaling their gay sexuality, but let’s be real.

Serous depression is most rooted in brain chemistry. It seems highly unlikely that he was forced into a shameful closet and depression in the era he lived or the the liberal household in which he was raised and world in which he he moved. You can tell the average ago of posters in this thread is 64, since they are all projecting the pain the closet caused them in an earlier abs more repressive era by continually ascribing his depression to allegedly being closeted. Maybe they intended it to help remove the stigma of depression, but that’s not the impression I get. I’m sorry to say the Baskin obituary reminds me of this. This kid (who I only knew a little bit) had obviously been in great pain and all this idiot could worry about were the dumb mouth breathers in his little hillbilly town. Well, my uncle went to great pains to publish obituaries that heavily implied his stepson had died of a rare heart condition- going so far as to ask people to make donations to some research institution studying this rare condition. My uncle fancies himself a prominent lawyer, though he is really an ambulance chaser who spent his whole career just scraping by. The subtext seems to be very “we are a fabulous, high achieving family to whom things like this don’t happen and this came out of nowhere.” Reputation management for the family.Ībout 15 years ago, my uncle’s stepson died of a drug overdose. This obituary is obviously an act of grieving and I guess I hope it helps the family.īut it does make me very uncomfortable. It’s as if the family is putting up a message, we are extremely powerful and influential, don’t you even dare to contradict us, no one would believe you and the only true love he had was from his family and not you. I can’t even begin to imagine what that would be like for that person and that it would be an equal devastation to the already unbearable loss of a very important and special loved one. What I desperately hope is that there isn’t a boyfriend, partner, lover or what have you who has been shut out and erased in the aftermath of this as if this was an event from decades ago.

Hell it might be a cliche, and an old one at that, but he is the complete embodiment of the Best Little Boy in the World and obviously heartbreakingly sensitive as just about only little gay boys can be, I speak from experience. We have gaydar and one doesn’t need to meet someone first hand for it to go off or for clear confirmation. I really assumed based on photos and first bits of information that he was gay, as I feel other did as well.

Tommy raskin son suicide