My grandma Lilang was the first person in my family to actively signal to me that it was okay to openly express my feminine side. I don’t know what the fuck I did to her for her to love me that much, but from that moment with the blush on, I felt like it was me and her versus the world. She was also the first person in my family to tell me it was okay to be gay—when our priest talked about how two men sleeping together was wrong, she’d lean over and whisper to me, “Don’t listen to him—he’s not always right.” Duh, Nana! I already wasn’t paying attention at mass to begin with.
