vicarious lie-ability

"Mum, I don't feel like coming in to the restaurant tonight. I just broke up with my girlfriend." Now if that's not a flawless coming-out spiel, I don't know what is. Huge round of applause to NS (aka Suga). What ensued was a week of festivities dedicated to the Complexity of Being Gaysian.

When Suga's mama finally cornered her for the inevitable intervention, the result was at once heart-wrenching and hilarious:

• Your father won't find out about this.
• Nobody else in our family is like this, so it can't be genetic. You must've talked yourself into it.
• Those white girls, they're only after your money.
• I'm telling you right now, you will die alone.
• ...

Not that I feel an inkling of inclination to follow suit. It isn't something that should be done out of peer pressure, or on the spur of the moment when you literally see the liberation your friend feels and find yourself envious. Sophisticated cost-benefit analyses are involved. Years of sanity, of several parties, are at stake. Besides, my home-front is a lie with or without this sordid dimension.