Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 14:54:29 -0500
From: fsw99 <fsw99@pop.mindspring.com>
Subject: Chapters 63 and 64 of One Big Happy Family

Legal Notice: The following story contains descriptions of graphic sexual
acts. The story is a work of fiction and has no basis in reality.

Don't read this story if: **You're not 18 or over,

**If it is illegal to read this type of material where you live,

**Or if you don't want to read about gay/bi people in love or having sex.
The author retains copyright to this story. Placing this story on a website
or reproducing this story for distribution without the author's permission
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E-mail responses to the stories, story suggestions or other 'constructive'
comments or advice may be sent to me at fsw99@mindspring.com.

			    Chapter Sixty Three

We rented a small conference room. All we had asked for was three large
folding tables with chairs for all of us to sit behind facing the room,
with folding chairs for all the television people.

We had all gone back to our rooms to shower and change clothes, and then
went down for breakfast. Yesterday, no one had paid us any
attention. Today, we noticed several people stare at us as we walked in and
also when we got our food from the buffet line. One man even pointed at us
and started whispering to the woman that was seated at his table. Looks
like our days of being unknowns were about over, and I hoped we weren't
about to make it worse.

I had called Mike's home and caught him before he had left. I explained
what had happened, and he even insisted I read him the entire article. He
helped me with the opening statement I would read, and we established
ground rules on what we would address and what we wouldn't. We would make a
statement about our sexual lives, but would take no questions about it. Gay
issues were one thing. Personal issues were another.

Eleven o'clock came quickly. We were all more nervous than before a
concert. A few minutes before eleven, we all got in one elevator and walked
to the conference room.

The amount of people inside caught us off guard. The small room was almost
packed. Many were standing in the back. We had all made name cards that we
placed in front of us when we sat down. The cameras had started recording
as we had walked in.

I introduced everyone, and then started the opening statement.

"I want to go over the ground rules. We will not answer any personal
questions about our relationships. This is not the Clinton trial, and we
have not been charged with any crimes.  Personal should be self
explanatory. The only crime the boys in the band have committed is falling
in love with another boy. Phill and Robbie are a couple, as are Paul and
Jimmy, and Isaiah and Ed.  They all love each other, and who they are with
is the only person they want in their lives. More importantly, we all love
each other, and think of ourselves as one big happy family, and each boy
has lots of brothers. The group love has nothing to do with sex at all. It
is love for your family, just like any other family in this city. If
anything, they are just closer to each other and better friends than most
kids in other families.

"The boys love rock and roll, and are very good. None of them smoke, drink,
or take any kind of drugs. We are not partiers. Their ages are 14 to
17. All make good grades in school. Jason is their full time tutor, and it
is his job to make sure they stay that way. All were very popular in their
schools, and were supported as being gay and out by their fellow
classmates.

"The interview for the newspaper we did yesterday does not give us the
credit we feel we deserve. Any of the boys would be model students in any
high school in Dallas, as long as they kept their sexuality a secret. They
have chosen to make it public, which is their right.

"Statistics show that 20 to 25 per cent of the population is born gay. I
think the statistics are low.  Being gay is not a choice you make, it is
how God creates you. No one should be persecuted for how they were born, in
any case. We will now accept questions." I said.

The questions came fast and furious. I had to stand up and ask them to take
turns like in a real press conference. They all had to hold up their hands
like they were back in school. It put us in charge and gave us more
confidence. Phill and Robbie even started to hold hands on top of the
table, which was soon copied by Paul and Jimmy, and then by Isaiah and Ed.

Only a few of the questions were totally negative. One woman asked about
the comment the preacher had made that we were all going to Hell. I simply
told her that he had a right to his opinion, but we thought he was totally
wrong.

The boys were asked questions individually and all did a very good job of
answering. I had made Paul promise to keep his comments in check, and he
did so with ease. Phill even talked about how he and Robbie had fought, and
how miserable each of them had been during that time. We were getting
smiles out of the crowd now. It looked like we were winning them over.

Isaiah talked about BD and the football team, and about the fake
confrontation. He went on to explain that cases like that were real, and
any person in high school could face ridicule and physical abuse, just for
being honest about who they really were. He also said that he wished all
student bodies would support gays for who they were like ours did, so kids
who were scared to come out of the closet could do so. He ended by saying
that this country is trying to fight racism, which he had experienced
himself, but was not doing enough to fight hatred against gays. I think
that statement finally broke through to all of them.

We finally ended the press conference, and thanked them for coming. Several
came over and talked to us for a while, but the questions were about our
music and not about being gay. We were happy to talk to them and several
promised to send someone to film our concert for the nightly news. We said
we would make sure and leave them press passes.

We thought everything had gone wonderful. We saw ourselves on the noon
news, which surprised us. Someone had to drive really fast to get the film
to the studio and on the air before the news went off. The only bad thing
that happened was the story was picked up by national news and we now had
to face the same kind of press conference wherever we went.

The concert went off without any problems. We did see some protestors
outside as we drove in, but not many. The favorable news reports on TV had
quieted them down. The crowd seemed to love the ZZ Top skit. The boys were
intimidated at first at playing for over 25,000 people, but quickly settled
down into their normal routine. When you have played the same songs over
and over for as long as they had, it does become routine.

Our first real surprise came when we finally left the concert after ZZ Top
had finished their second encore. We had come back for two, also. One of
the TV stations had also filmed an opening to their story in front of the
hotel where we were staying. They had started it out by saying they were
reporting live from the XXX Hotel. There were kids and grown ups all over
the place out front. And, we thought they were waiting for us!!!

All of our eyes went wide. Hopefully, they were a friendly crowd. Jason and
I would lead the way just in case.

When they saw the bus, everyone started running along the side waiting for
us to stop. We waved at them and saw they were all fans. When we finally
stopped, we were mobbed by kids wanting autographs from the band
members. They had never had anything like that happen, so they were happy
to stop and talk to them all while they signed.

One kid who must have been 6'2" or 6'3" and very husky looking came over,
followed by another huge guy. "Guys, my name is Jim. I came out to my best
friend Ronnie tonight on the way to the concert, and I have you to thank
for it. He told me he has known it for several years, but didn't want to
ask me about it until I was ready to talk. We are both on the football team
and the student council. We are going to start a club called The Gay Free
Zone at school. If you can make it work at your school, we can too."

"That's great, Jim. We would love to talk to you about it. You want to come
up with us as soon as we are finished here?" Isaiah asked.

"That would be awesome. Maybe you could give us some ideas. We can wait
over here," Jim answered.

It took us over thirty minutes to finally sign everything and get inside
the hotel. I even had a couple of people come up and ask me to sign copies
of my books. I had no idea that I would get any publicity out of any of
this.

Even though this was a school night, Jim and Ronnie didn't leave until
1:30. Everyone exchanged ideas about the club, and we promised to mention
them and their club idea in future press conferences. All the boys really
liked the idea, and hoped we could help the club idea take off.

We all finally went to bed, as tomorrow we were to travel to San Antonio
and play again that night. Then, we would have a day off before playing in
Houston. Then New Orleans, then Jackson, then Montgomery, then Birmingham,
then Atlanta, and finally a few days in a row off.  We were only at the
first stop on the tour, and we were already tired of it. Not the playing,
just the travel. No one had any idea exactly how tired of it we would all
get, and how much strain it would put on all the relationships.

                                                 ***************************

We were all tired the next morning, even Jason, and a sleepy driver isn't
good. At least we didn't have very far to go. A little over three hours.

We got in about 12:30, and the press was already there, waiting for us. I
might have to change our names on our reservations in the future. They had
even tracked us down to our hotel. This was going to be a pain in the ass
for all of us.

We agreed to a 3 pm news conference, as long as they would leave us alone
for now. We rested a while, went swimming in the pool, did the news
conference, studied a little bit, did the concert, came back and signed
autographs, as they also told their watchers the name of our hotel, and
went to bed very tired. If it wasn't for the thrill of performing on stage,
we were all ready to quit.  We wouldn't, though. This was too important to
everyone.

On the next day to Houston. We didn't have to play that night, so it was
time to catch up on rest and school work for them, writing for me. The
drive was under three hours, so it wasn't bad.

Jason finally was able to contact Mathieu, who called my cell phone while
we were on the road.  Both Jason and I talked to him, and he agreed to meet
us in Atlanta. He needed time to give notice on the job he had taken while
he was between bands. That was agreeable to us, so we now had a new bus
driver. At least, soon, we would.

Mike met us there. He said he had a brainstorm, and wanted to show us what
he had in mind. He had already handled the news media there, and had set up
a press conference for 4 pm this afternoon. That was fine for us. We had no
intention of leaving the hotel. Houston wasn't exactly a tourist town,
anyway.

When we all got our luggage sorted and into our rooms, we all met back in
my room.

"Look, I know all this publicity started out badly, but it is great for you
in the long run. My wife watches this cooking show called Emeril Live. The
star of the show is always saying `Let's kick it up a notch!` That is what
I want to do with your publicity. Let me show you what I have with me,"
Mike said, as he went over to his briefcase and pulled out a black
t-shirt. He opened it up, and we all saw that all six boys pictures were on
the front, along with the band name.

"Wow, that is awesome. We look like rock stars," Jimmy said.

"This is what I thought. All of you wear them on stage. You each autograph
the backs. At one point in the concert, you decide when, you all tell the
audience you are gay, there is nothing wrong with admitting you are gay,
and you will each give your sweat soaked t-shirt to the first 6 boys who
will admit to being gay and come down front. You would have to all play the
next couple of songs without shirts on, which also shouldn't hurt your
image at all. What do you think?" Mike asked.

"I don't know. That seems a little extreme to me," Isaiah said.

"If you do it, then you can explain about the Gay Free Zone club that you
are promoting. You can also give out free t-shirts to any kid who will
pledge to back gays rights to come out and not be hassled. Think about
it. If you can just change the minds of ten kids per city you visit, it
could make an impact. If you can change the minds of a hundred or a
thousand per city, it could make a huge impact. Wouldn't it make all the
hassle of traveling worth it?" Mike asked.

Everyone looked at each other and silently agreed with Mike. "OK, we'll try
it. If no one comes out of the audience and we get laughed off the stage,
it will be all your fault. Stan, can you help me think of something to
say?" Isaiah asked.

"Sure. That should be easy. Jason will help too, won't you Jason?" I asked.

"Sure. I think I know something good right now. I'll work on it while you
guys hit the books," Jason answered.

"Aw, come on. We don't want to study right now," Paul whined.

"You also didn't want to study on the bus, remember," I added.

"Yeah, I know. All right. If we are going to do it, lets start and get it
over with," Paul said, getting to his feet. All the boys and Jason walked
out of the room to get their books and meet in Phill and Robbie's room,
which had been designated the study room.

Mike stayed and talked for a few minutes, and then went to his room to make
some phone calls. I got out my lap top and wrote some. I got lots more done
than I had in a while. Typing on a moving bus and having to think about the
new plot while there were noises all around me was tough. I was going to
have to invest in some ear phones to drown out the noise.

                                                ***************************

It was finally time to play once more, and we were ready. I was even
beginning to like singing `LaGrange`. Performing before a huge crowd does
give you a major rush.

We were two songs from taking our first encore, when Isaiah stopped and
addressed the crowd.

"I know almost everyone knows that we are three gay couples. We seem to get
lots of publicity everywhere we go whether we want it or not. Everyone had
been really great to us while we have been touring, but life isn't always
this easy for a gay boy or girl. Hatred and bigotry for gays seems to be
everywhere. We are trying to promote a new club two boys are starting in
Dallas called the Gay Free Zone for high schools all around the
country. Gays don't want any special privileges. They also don't want to be
beaten up because they were born gay. Being gay isn't an individual's
choice, it was God's choice to make him or her that way. All we ask is to
be treated like everyone else," Isaiah said, and paused.

The crowd gave him a big round of applause. He continued.

"Our manager created these t-shirts for us to give away. We will give the
ones we are wearing to the first six kids who will come up to the stage and
admit they are gay. Being gay isn't anything to be ashamed about. It is
part of you, just like your hair and eye color. We will also give away new
t-shirts after we finish playing to anyone, gay or straight, who will
support gays in their high schools. We want to make a difference, and this
is our way of trying to help. Do we have six brave kids in the audience?"
Isaiah asked.

Kids from all over the audience started to get up and run towards the
stage. Everyone's eyes got big at how many were coming. It was a good thing
we had already brought the extra t-shirts behind the stage. I quickly told
Brian and Nate to open a box of them. Everyone that came down now had to
have one.

Isaiah asked the first six who's shirt they wanted, and the boys pulled
them over their heads. The kids who got them were really shy about asking
for their favorite's. The rest were relived that they would also get a
t-shirt, even if it hadn't been worn and signed by the band. We must have
given away 30 t-shirts, and that was just on the floor of the stadium.

"OK, thanks for coming down. See, that wasn't so bad, was it? We have two
more songs for you now, and then we are going to take a short break, and
then will come back to finish our part of the show, including playing
`Coming to Get You`. Is that all right with everyone?" Isaiah asked.  The
crowd roared it's approval.

The band started into the next song, and the concert continued. But, an
important president had been set. We would continue to give out t-shirts at
every concert, and the amount kept increasing as word spread. The cost
would have to come out of our profits, but it was worth it.

Spreading the word didn't seem to be a problem any more. People magazine
sent someone down to interview us for a cover story. They promised
beforehand to do a fair interview and they did.  And this was just the
first week of our tour!!!! Word of an all gay boy band was spreading from
coast to coast!!!

When we got to Atlanta, Mike again met us there. He had an offer that he
wanted to explain to us.

"You won't believe this. We have an offer to appear on the David Letterman
Show. We would all fly up the day after the Atlanta concert. All of us!!
Would you like that? It would be unbelievable exposure for a brand new
band," Mike said.

"Would they get to play on national TV?" I asked.

"They want them to play `Coming to Get You` after your on stage appearance
with David. What do you all think? It could make the sale of you CD
skyrocket," Mike said.

"I don't know. National TV? I don't know if we are ready for that or not,"
Isaiah said.

"I think I might faint," Ed said.

"I think it would be cool," Paul said.

"Me, too," Jimmy added.

"Will Letterman agree to certain ground rules with his questions?" I asked.

"I think so. I am negotiating with his producer, who I already know. I will
let you know, if you all agree to go on his show," Mike said.

"How many people can we fly with us?" Isaiah asked.

"They didn't set a limit. Why?" Mike asked

"I just had a thought. What if we do this?" Isaiah asked, and started to
explain his plan.

Comments can be sent to me at fsw99@mindspring.com.