As a youth growing up in Billings, Montana, I knew nothing about counterculture of gays living among us. The idea of two men kissing (and more) was abhorrent to me (still is), though two women … well, another story. In retrospect I think a good friend from my youth was a repressed homosexual. In his family, such behavior would have led to shunning, maybe even violence from the Dad. I came to think that repressed homosexuals can be dangerous, as the pent-up rage often translates to violence, domestic and otherwise.
I knew a woman (through my then-wife’s workplace) who married a man who after the vows went completely asexual on her, leading to divorce for cause, in that he could not/would not perform. I knew of a man, son of a prominent businessman, who might be thought of as a flamer, openly gay and probably trying to embarrass his dad with (perceived) abhorrent behavior. In the 1960s and 70s, this was all par for the course, the way it was. It was tough to be LGBT.
Piece of Mindful 