Friday, 30 May 2025
America Age
  • Trending
  • World
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
    • Money
    • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion / Beauty
    • Art & Books
    • Culture
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Font ResizerAa
America AgeAmerica Age
Search
  • Trending
  • World
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
    • Money
    • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion / Beauty
    • Art & Books
    • Culture
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
© 2024 America Age. All Rights Reserved.
America Age > Blog > Lifestyle > A Gay Pilot Reflects on What Travel Means to Queer Folks
Lifestyle

A Gay Pilot Reflects on What Travel Means to Queer Folks

Enspirers | Editorial Board
Share
A Gay Pilot Reflects on What Travel Means to Queer Folks
SHARE

Next came the trip I made with my first boyfriend to Montreal. Three decades later, I recall that on that long-ago summer morning we proceeded north from Pittsfield in his Volkswagen, crossed the Canadian line and drove into the city. We climbed Mount Royal for a view of its namesake metropolis and wandered through the McGill University campus. After we’d checked into a hotel and sat down in a restaurant without anyone giving us a second look, I wondered if I’d been too pessimistic about the world and a gay kid’s future in it. On the drive home we listened to the Pet Shop Boys. I loved their London-centered songs, even if I couldn’t appreciate the urban geography — the West End, King’s Cross — they celebrated. Nor could I have conceived that one day I might move to London, fly airliners from the city, or have a first date there (a springtime walk through a leafy park) with my future husband.

Finally, in college, my fascination with Japan led me to study its language and, one summer, to work in Tokyo. My college teacher put me in touch with a former student, Drew Tagliabue, who lived there with his partner. When I met them for dumplings one evening, I marveled at the diminutive dimensions of one of their favorite restaurants in the largest city that has ever existed, and at lives lived more freely than I had imagined possible. That summer, Drew — who later became the executive director of PFLAG NYC — New York’s “partnership of parents, allies, and LGBTQ+ people working to make a better future for LGBTQ+ young people” — gave me a collection of E.M. Forster, in which I found the words that remain with me as a traveler today: “only connect …”

Armchair L.G.B.T.Q. travelers, of course, can hit the proverbial road with the many writers whose words and worldviews were shaped by journeys. Consider James Baldwin in Paris, Christopher Isherwood in Berlin, and Elizabeth Bishop, who broke the heart of a boy from Pittsfield and later lived with an architect named Lota near Rio de Janeiro. Some of the loveliest stories I know — of the ways in which travel may lead to self-discovery and new forms of community — take place in the San Francisco (“nobody’s from here”) of Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City” novels.

Like many Pittsfield folks, I’m inspired by the wayfaring spirit of Herman Melville, who wrote “Moby-Dick” in my hometown. Whatever the truth of Melville’s sexuality — as Andrew Delbanco notes in “Melville: His World and Work,” it’s not easy to separate the tantalizing clues from the response of “gay readers who find themselves drawn to him” — something impelled him to set out for the open ocean and the wonders of distant cities. Born in New York, he wrote easily of Liverpool, Rome and London, and of the turrets of Jerusalem, the dome-obscuring mists of Constantinople, and “the Parthenon uplifted on its rock first challenging the view on the approach to Athens.”

TAGGED:Airlines and AirplanesHomosexuality and BisexualityMontreal (Quebec)The Washington MailTokyo (Japan)Travel and Vacations
Share This Article
Twitter Email Copy Link Print
Previous Article Lidia Yuknavitch Writes to Break With the ‘Tyranny’ of the Past Lidia Yuknavitch Writes to Break With the ‘Tyranny’ of the Past
Next Article What to See, Eat and Do in New Orleans What to See, Eat and Do in New Orleans

Your Trusted Source for Accurate and Timely Updates!

Our commitment to accuracy, impartiality, and delivering breaking news as it happens has earned us the trust of a vast audience. Stay ahead with real-time updates on the latest events, trends.
FacebookLike
TwitterFollow
InstagramFollow
LinkedInFollow
MediumFollow
QuoraFollow
- Advertisement -
Ad image

Popular Posts

‘Keep a cool head’: Ukraine urges calm as the drumbeats of war get louder

KYIV, Ukraine — Washington and the West have been shouting from the rafters that a…

By Enspirers | Editorial Board

EXPLAINER: What would retreat from Kherson mean for Russia?

Ukrainian forces pressing an offensive in the south have zeroed in on Kherson, a provincial…

By Enspirers | Editorial Board

Prime Day laptop computer offers: Store new file lows on MacBooks, gaming laptops, and extra

UPDATE: Jul. 16, 2024, 2:15 p.m. EDT This story has been up to date to…

By Enspirers | Editorial Board

Labor pushing for brand new powers to ‘clean up’ alleged felony exercise in CFMEU

The Albanese authorities will subsequent week push for brand new powers to nominate an administrator…

By Enspirers | Editorial Board

You Might Also Like

Tenvil Mackenson: Rebuilding Haiti, Brick by Brick
LifestyleTrending

Tenvil Mackenson: Rebuilding Haiti, Brick by Brick

By Enspirers | Editorial Board
Finding Voice Through Silence: The Story of OR GOLAN
LifestyleTrending

Finding Voice Through Silence: The Story of OR GOLAN

By Enspirers | Editorial Board
Get pleasure from Summertime Throwbacks in June at Broward Heart for the Performing Arts | Way of life Media Group
Lifestyle

Get pleasure from Summertime Throwbacks in June at Broward Heart for the Performing Arts | Way of life Media Group

By Enspirers | Editorial Board
Fashion Designer Hyeonseo Irene Park: Redefining Menswear Through Originality and Collaboration
LifestyleTrending

Fashion Designer Hyeonseo Irene Park: Redefining Menswear Through Originality and Collaboration

By Enspirers | Editorial Board
America Age
Facebook Twitter Youtube

About US


America Age: Your instant connection to breaking stories and live updates. Stay informed with our real-time coverage across politics, tech, entertainment, and more. Your reliable source for 24/7 news.

Company
  • About Us
  • Newsroom Policies & Standards
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Careers
  • Media & Community Relations
  • WP Creative Group
  • Accessibility Statement
Contact Us
  • Contact Us
  • Contact Customer Care
  • Advertise
  • Licensing & Syndication
  • Request a Correction
  • Contact the Newsroom
  • Send a News Tip
  • Report a Vulnerability
Terms of Use
  • Digital Products Terms of Sale
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Settings
  • Submissions & Discussion Policy
  • RSS Terms of Service
  • Ad Choices
© 2024 America Age. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?