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Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Outing Oneself

I grew up in a very small town in rural southern Virginia.  My grandparents, who raised me, ran the town's general store and I delivered to almost all of the town's homes the state's daily newspaper. Needless to say, everyone knew my mother, and grandparents and by extension me. My grandfather was the town's mayor.

The county had one large central high school and I was active in sports, (football) and many club activities. It was a wonderful environment and I fondly look back on so many treasured memories.  

I outed myself to my high school classmates at our 50th class reunion attending as Rhonda. It was rewarding and an overall wonderful experience. it is written up on the blog here. High School Reunion - The After Glow.

A few years later, Rhonda attend VCU's Class Reunion and receive an "Alumni 50th Anniversary Pin and Certificate".  Since, I have been elected to VCU's Engineering School Foundation Board and have spoken several times at events there including being the keynote speaker for the 2022 Lavender graduation. Because of my activism and work on several LGBTQ Boards, I am being honored this week in a group ceremony.

VCU sent out a press release and I forwarded it to my town's newspaper (see below). I do not have family left in Southern Virginia, but many friends and former work acquaintances that will likely remember me. I guess this completes my early life's hometown outing. 

For those of you that think that family, friends, and acquaintances will abandon you, think again.  See again Saturday's blog post "Those That Matter..."

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