Tales of the City

Memory Served: Sometime between 1991 and 1995, Malate, Manila

Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City is a television miniseries based on the first of the author's series of novels. This scene depicts the coming out process that Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, played by Marcus D'Amico, is undertaking with his parents. Listening to his dictation was heart-wrenching, especially for young gay men like me, dealing with our own closet issues in the 1990s, and projected our own thoughts with the words of Maupin's characters.

Remembered watching the miniseries in VHS at the Malvar Center, the community center of The Library Foundation in Malate, Manila. The Center, then one of very few in Metro Manila to serve as discreet social spaces for gay and bisexual men, also hosted Friday Night Discussions of which one of the most popular topics was coming out.

June 30 is the Metro Manila LGBTQIA+ Pride March: #YesToEQUALITY #RiseUpTogether