It was another cool summer evening in Boston and we were sitting together on the stoop of my aunt's apartment building. Renee Smith is just your average Bostonian. She's a Red Sox fan, a proud mother of two dogs, and enjoys frozen yogurt on Friday nights. In an unusual serious moment, she decided to tell us the story of how she came out.
According to her, she wasn't afraid of how people would treat her differently after. She was afraid her brother and sister, my father and aunt, wouldn't allow her to be around their children. She was also afraid she would lose being a godmother to me. She hesitated in coming out because she wanted to be part of our lives, and almost didn't come out because of it.
But she did come out. She had support from her father, and tears of mourning from her mother. Hate came in the form of a letter from my own father, in the only time I have ever felt truly ashamed of him. I cried as she told us this and couldn't even begin to imagine what she had gone through.
She showed us a photo of her and her partner, Kate, walking out of City Hall, marriage certificate in hand. Angry marchers were shouting at them in protest, but nothing could remove the smiles of overwhelming joy from their faces. They were one of the first of hundreds of couples who waited in line to get married when same-sex marriage became legal in Boston. They made history.
It was crucial that this happened to the Smith family. My family needed to be shaken up. If Renee hadn't come out then, I would never be able to speak my mind today. Having a conversation with my father is difficult now because we can almost never agree on controversial topics. Without her, it would be impossible. Someone else would have eventually done something to change the way my family thought, but Renee made that unnecessary. She had the courage to stand up to her own family, which is why she is the bravest person I know.
She taught me how to live my life. She taught me to speak my mind and to not be ashamed of what I think or feel. She was the first Smith to begin living life without the need for approval, and she passed that down to her nieces and nephews. Without her, I am afraid I would have grown up silent and unable to think for myself. She freed me, and I am so proud to call her my godmother.
