I grew up in Bahama (bah HAY mah), a rural community just north of Durham, NC, where

Family life has always been pretty important, so it's good I have a good one. I'm the oldest of three sons. The youngest is also gay, and the middle one has excellent taste in clothing and furnishings. My middle brother is married and has two great kids, and my youngest brother has a lover who is like another brother. My family has been quite supportive in the coming out process. I know not everyone is so blessed, and that's really sad.

As kids our lives seemed as normal as any--I guess because they were-- but there were signs that might have clued me in. It's poetic justice, I suppose, that I was born on Barbra Striesand's birthday. Now it doesn't seem so odd that I was a big fan of Connie Francis, Cher, Barbra, and Olivia Newton-John. (My youngest brother remarks that I "raised him right" by taking him to movies like Xanadu.