Chapter 15

“I still get dirty looks and shit going out with Nic because she’s black and I’m white, but it’s nothing compared to the vitriol I’d get if I was out with another man,” he’d said. “I can take care of myself, but I don’t want to deal with the possibility of someone picking a fight with me every fucking time I leave the house with my boyfriend. I hate feeling like I’m always on the defensive.”

I couldn’t speak for Donovan’s public outings with men prior to meeting me, but he’d never been harassed or accosted when we’d gone out together. However, we did tend to go to gay-friendly places where we figured we wouldn’t be bothered as two men dining or having a drink together. We would, on occasion, go to a Blackhawks or a Cubs game together, but since we both often flew under the gaydar, so to speak, we didn’t really set off any alarms. We “passed” as heterosexuals, so people tended to leave us alone.