Coming out as gay was an easy enough matter for me, since I worked in a profession where being gay had a long history of being accepted.

To be human and to be adult means constantly to be in the grip of opposing emotions, to have daily to reconcile apparently conflicting tensions. I want this, but need that. I cherish this, but I adore its opposite too.

How to seperate the humiliation from the loss, that's the catch. You can never be sure if what tortures you is the pain of being without someone you love or the embarrassment of admitting that you have been rejected.

But happiness is no respecter of persons.

I am a lover of truth, a worshipper of freedom, a celebrant at the altar of language and purity and tolerance.

My life, at least, is divided between writing and performing and mixtures of the two.

If there is a sort of national American emotion I would call it optimism. If there is an English one I would call it embarrassment - not even pessimism - just sheer shame, embarrassment and confusion.