Celebrating LGBTQ Pride Month Month
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by Kayla Christopher, MBA Wnet Pride/LGBTQ Chair |
The Day I Changed Someone's Opinion about Gay People
Back in September 2013, I was 35 and had started a job in the default mortgage call center with U.S. Bank in downtown St. Louis. I became best friends with a male co-worker, Tom, who sat in front of me in our cube row. We shared a similar sense of humor and were both avid St. Louis sports fans of our local teams, the Cardinals and the Blues. We would frequently chat in between our work calls about our families, personal lives outside of work, sports, bitching about crazy mortgage customers, our managers or our call stats. We would help each other solve work problems and trusted each other's judgement about issues.
After a few months, I privately came out to him that I was bisexual and was in a relationship with a live-in girlfriend. Now, Tom was a devout Christian of Catholic faith with traditionally conservative political values and ethics. He was absolutely against gay marriage and the recognition of it as law in our country. However, Tom never personally knew anyone that was LGBTQ and in a same-sex relationship. I was the first person he ever got to know on a personal basis who was gay.
