How My Parents Made Me Queer: Colour-Coding

Ever look back on those childhood memories to discover innocent oversights made by Mom and Dad that nudged you closer to coming out? It's as if they possessed gaydar without being able to read it.

It was Feral Geographer who first tipped me off to the concept of "How My Parents Made Me Queer." It's an idea I've contemplated over the years as I'm sure most queer kids have. In retrospect, it's as if we were all born waving rainbow-coloured flags -- yet, we can still remain invisible for decades until we make the choice to come out.

Regardless, I think we've all got those little quirks or those special interests that our parents picked up on and encouraged without realizing those points are vital to our coming out narratives as adults.

For me, the earliest encounter with this phenomenon was in household personal branding. Enter: Colour-coded towels.

After dealing with numerous fights regarding bathroom items, my Mom decided to make it clear for us. She bought toothbrushes and towels in specific colours that corresponded to the child in question. In that sense, we could claim ownership over objects with visual cues dyed right into them.

Of course, this is where the concepts of colour and gender become most apparent.

In our house, there are two girls and one boy. I am the middle child. My sister was assigned all the pink gear and my brother received all the blue gear.

So, where does that leave the second girl?

In the end, the official colour for Miz Moffatt was green. Gender neutral. From the start, I was not only born between siblings, I lived between the traditional colour spectrum designed for Girls and Boys. I was different from my sister's world of pink and different from my brother's world of blue.

I was green. I was uncharted territory. I was so going to become fascinated with concepts of gender norms and the act of transgressing those boundaries once I got older....

Subtle? Sure. And, to be fair, I was obsessed with the colour green as a child. I reached the point where I would only eat vegetables if they were green.

Still, though, I wonder how those first concepts of myself might have been affected had I been assigned pink or even purple. Or, what if the colours had been pastels instead of vibrant shades? I wonder if that helped set the tone for my childhood or if it was me who set the standard for the colours used to define me.

Oh, endless numbers of avenues to walk down with this thought, I imagine.

I'm intrigued to know what other small acts contributed to that proto-lesbian identity of mine. Perhaps it requires further investigation and more posts on my part. Hmm, we shall definitely see, dear readers.

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OLYMPIC UPDATE:

Congrtas to another medallist hailing from the Team Canada set:

• Kristina Groves, Speed Skating - Ladies' 1500 m (Silver, Feb. 21)

And, to make this particular match a little sweeter for all the queer women out there -- the Dutch gold medallist in the event, Ireen Wust, is an out and proud gay gal herself. So there's our Olympic moment of Cute, Queer, and Canadian personified.

(L-R) Kristina Groves, Ireen Wust, Martina Sablikova