How a farmer in the 1960s dealt with his gay son

by Annalisa Lista - 2015.10.15

“I am not ashamed of being a farmer. So why are you hiding your homosexuality?” A long time ago in the 1960s, no one would have imagined that a semi-literate father of humble origins could talk like that to his young gay son. But that's what happened to Patrick Haggerty, now in his 70s and singer with the first LGBT American country music group, Lavender Country. The famous musician has decided to honour the memory of his father Charles with a video, showing the moment when they spoke so openly. It was parents' evening at Patrick's school, so his father Charles went to school with dirty clothes covered in earth and manure, just to provoke his son, who shouted angrily that it wasn't fair to go to see the teachers looking like that. But that's just what Charles wanted: to provoke a reaction in his son, thus giving him a chance to tell him that he knew about his sexuality. And, just like his job, there was no reason to hide it.

