Yesterday afternoon, I went to Table Wine Company. There was a well-attended event honoring Gay Pride. I had a wonderful time. I bought some nice wine and beer.
My mind went back to 1968-1969 when I
was a young college student in Houston. In those days, gay relationships
between two people were a criminal offense. A gay person could not serve in the
military or get a security clearance. It was a dark time that only changed after
decades of protest and political lobbying.
All those years ago, my first wife and I
had a special friend. His name was Larry Waldstrasse. He had graduated from
MIT. He was a NASA engineer at the Manned Spacecraft Center. He also owned a
small apartment building on Waugh Drive in Houston. It was located in an area
known to be favored by gay people.
Larry normally rented apartments to gay
people. He said that they were model tenants and never wanted any sort of
problems from the authorities. We moved into an apartment in Larry's apartment
building. We were the only heterosexual couple in the building. We lived in a
beautiful apartment that was rented for $90 US per month. My first wife could
walk to her job at Southwestern Bell Telephone. We were very close to our most
beloved Mexican restaurant. My father would come to visit us regularly. He was
aware of who our neighbors were. He had no problem with it.
I have only wonderful memories of that
time in my life, our friendship with Larry, and our neighbors.
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