Cathy and Tammy have been living together for two years, since they both finished high school. They had to keep it a secret for many reasons, but mostly they were afraid what their friends and especially their family would think.
They had a crush on each other the first year of high school, but didn't act on it until their senior year. They lived in Birmingham, Alabama, in the deep religious south, where homosexuality was frowned upon.
Cathy grew up here in Birmingham, spending her whole life not going more than one hundred and fifty miles from Birmingham.
Tammy was different, she was Hispanic and grew up in San Francisco, moving her at the beginning of her first year of high school, and Cathy was the first friend she ever made.
They both had nice jobs, they were lucky; both companies each one worked for supported the gay and lesbian community, a rarity for the Deep South.
Their lives were great, except they had to live in secret, afraid of what the neighbors, friends, and their families would think. Tammy wasn't really concerned about her family much, but a part of her was afraid to tell them.
Both of their parents knew about the other and had met them many times, but their parents and friends only thought they were best friends. They knew they lived together, but not as lovers, but as friends sharing an apartment to save money.
One night, after a long day at work, they were on the couch cuddling and watching a chick flick they both loved, Tammy said, "We should tell our parents and friends the truth about us. I am tired of living a secret life."
Cathy just sat there and watched the movie; she was trying to ignore what Tammy said. They had this conversation many times, and it all ended the same way, with a big argument.
Tammy persisted with it and finally Cathy said, "I love you very much, but you know how I feel about this. I am tired of living in secret, living a lie. I can deal with my friends, even my job, they wouldn't care much, and even if they did, I would get over it. My family is another thing, I have no idea how they would react, and you know they are super religious."
Tammy replied, "I know, just think about it. It would so much easier if everybody knew. I know we would have to move if the neighborhood found out, but all of this will make us stronger.
Cathy and Tammy didn't speak about it the rest of the night, Cathy knew Tammy was right, about everything; she was just scared that everything they have could be destroyed and she would lose Tammy over it all.
They went to bed and held each other while they slept. Cathy tossed and turned all night, the thought of coming out to everyone weighed heavy on her mind.
The next morning at breakfast, Tammy was eating her morning toast, Cathy sat down at the table, and she sipped her coffee and said out of the blue, "You're right, we should tell everyone about us, and it should be done soon."
Tammy almost gagged on her toast, she was not expecting that. She looked across the table and said, "How about this weekend, Saturday, you can go to your parents, and I will go to mine, and we will deal with the fallout Sunday."
Cathy smiled, she got up and gave Tammy a kiss on her forehead and said, "That sounds like a plan, I am still scared this will all blow up on us."
Tammy got up, she held Cathy close and said, "I promise you, if this blows up on us, we will pick up the pieces together."
Cathy smiled; she kissed and gave Tammy a big hug before heading off to work. Tammy realized it was getting late; she threw her dishes in the sink and headed out herself.
They both called their parents and set it all up for Saturday night since they both had to work that morning. I would be a long day for both of them since they won't see each other from breakfast until late that night after the talk to their parents.
Saturday came and they both headed out to work, they kept sending each other text messages of support all day.
Cathy drove from work at a large international publishing company to her parent's house. It was a twenty minute drive with traffic. As she pulled into her parent's driveway, she was scared as hell as to how they would react. She wished Tammy was here to comfort her and give her support, but she knew it was best she didn't come with her, her day had a violent temper when he got angry.
All through dinner, Cathy couldn't sit still, her parents knew it was something big she had to tell and tired to pry it out of her during dinner.
After a long and usually quiet dinner, her parents John and Mary, followed her into the family room and all sat down in the chairs, her parents were sitting directly across from her.
Cathy took a deep and started by saying, "Mom, dad, I have something to say and I know you won't like it, but I hope you will understand.
Her parents looked at her and her mom said, "Its ok dear, whatever it is, and you can tell us. Let me guess you lost your job, didn't you."
She looked at her dad who had a confused look on his face, she looked at her mom and said, "Mom, dad, this is not about my job." She took another deep breath and continued, "As you know, Tammy and I have been sharing a place for two years now."
Her mom interrupted and said "No, is Tammy okay? Did something happen to her? Tell her we will keep her in our prayers and ask the church to pray for her."
Cathy knew this was going to be a lot harder and not good, she continued, "NO mom, Tammy is fine, we are best friends, but also more, we are lovers and we are both lesbians."
Cathy was in a way relieved that it was finally out, but she could she her dad was about to explode, and explode is what he did."
Her dad stood up and yelled, "What the hell are you saying. We raised you to be a good Christian. You know God hates fags and you will burn in hell for this."
Her mom didn't say a word for several minutes, she finally said, "Now John, let me handle this." Her mom looked at Cathy and continued, "Cathy, you know how the church feels about this. What did we do wrong? We raised you to know better. What about children? You need to find a nice man, marry him and have children. How are you going to have children now?"
Cathy was upset; she knew this wasn't going to be easy. Before she could respond, her father started again saying, "We raised you, fed you, gave you shelter, and you do this to us as repayment. You are nothing but a whore, and you know what the bible says happens to whores. What do you think the pastor and the congregation at the church will say?"
Cathy looked at her father and replied, "Tammy is not whore, neither am I. She is more loving and caring than you two hypocrites. All you are worried about is what the pastor and the church congregation will think; you both don't give a shit about me. I love Tammy and I know God loves me."
Her mother was about to reply, but her father cut her off and said, "How dare you speak like that in this house." I could see he wanted to backhand me, but he just stood there and continued, "Get out of this house and don't ever come back. As far as we are concerned, you are dead to us."
Cathy ran out of her parent's house crying. She drove off with her tires squealing and leaving a mark on the driveway. She drove to a nearby gas station and dialed Tammy on her cell phone.
Tammy drove up to her parent's house near the automotive factory where she worked in the main office. Her parents greeted with smiled and they sat down to dinner.
During dinner they all caught up on what was happening in their lives, it had been several months since she visited them, due to the high volume of paperwork she had at the office.
After her parents caught her up on what was going on with the family, Tammy thought it was time to pop the news. She looked across the dinner table and said, "Dad, mom, I have something to tell you, a secret I have been keeping. "
Her parents looked at each other and her dad said, "What is it? You know we don't keep secrets in this family, now spit it out."
Tammy took a deep breath, she knew Cathy would have a rough time and hoped this went over good, finally she replied, "Cathy and I are more than best friends, we are both lesbians."
Her parents looked at each other in a way that Tammy didn't know what to expect. Her father stood up and went into the other room and her mother said, "Help me clear the table dear."
My mother and I cleared the table and brought the dishes into the kitchen. Tammy was washing the dishes when her mother walked up and said, "Tammy, me and your father are very disappointed. We hoped you would find a man and settle down and have children. Now we won't have grandchildren and it's disappointing."
Tammy rinsed off a dish and looked at her mom and replied, "I know mom. Cathy and I are very happy. She makes me so happy, all she has to do is be there for me when I get home and I am happy. I don't even care if she happy or mad at me. I know you and dad want grandkids, we would like kids too, and there are ways to make that happen."
Her mom put her hand on Tammy's shoulder, she was silent for a moment before saying, "Let me talk to your father. We are not mad at you, and we still love you. Cathy is a very nice person, and we both like her. Just let me talk to your father for a minute."
Tammy was just finishing up the dishes when her father walked in. They sat down at the table and her father said, "Are you sure you are happy with Cathy? All me and your mother want is for you to be happy."
Tammy looked at her father and said, "Yes daddy, I am very much in love with Cathy. I think I can speak for her and say, we both promise you will have grandchildren."
Tammy's father stood up and put his arms out, Tammy stood up and went over to him and he gave her a big hug while saying, "Then you and Cathy have our support and blessing."
Tammy pulled away a little and said with an excited tone, "You both do? Thanks daddy. Can I bring her over dinner soon, she is telling her parents tonight too, and I know it won't go good."
Before he could respond, her cell phone rang and when she answered it, Cathy was on the other end, all her father could hear was a woman crying on the other end and Tammy saying with a surprised tone, "They did what?"
Tammy could see her father motioning with his hands that he wanted to say something, Tammy put her hand over the phone and her father said, "Tell her to come here, she needs you, tell her to come here and we will all figure this out."
Tammy repeated what her father said and hung up. Tammy looked at her father and said with a sad look, almost crying, "Its bad daddy, worst than what we thought would happen, she will be here soon."
Tammy and her father walked to the parlor, her mother was sitting down waiting for them. Tammy looked at her mother and said, "Cathy is on her way, her parents didn't take the news very good."
Tammy and her parents heard Cathy's car pull up. Tammy went to the door and let Cathy in. Cathy was crying and when Tammy closed the door, she hugged her and said crying, "They hate me, they hate you, and they hate us."
Tammy patted her back and tried to comfort her; she wiped Cathy's tears and said, "My parents are in the parlor, they are waiting for us."
Cathy looked at Tammy who was hiding her smile out of respect for her love, as Tammy continued to wipe her tears, she said, "Really? Did you tell them yet?"
As Tammy held her, she looked in Cathy's eyes and replied, "Yes I did, they are happy for us. They are waiting for us in the parlor."
Tammy led Cathy to the parlor, when they walked in, Tammy's mom ran up to Cathy and said, "I am so sorry dear, maybe your parent will come around some day. Until then, you will be part of ours."
Cathy looked up at Tammy's mom and actually cracked a small smile and said, "Really? You don't care we are lesbians."
Tammy's father stepped forward and said, "We are disappointed about not having grandkids, but as long as you keep our baby happy, you will be welcome here anytime. We will think of you as our daughter in law."
Cathy ran and gave Tammy's father a big hug and said, "Thank you. I love your daughter so much, and we figure out how to give you grandkids."
Tammy walked up to Cathy and kissed her, it felt good to get this out in the open, and they wanted to do this for a long time. Tammy broke the embrace and said, "We can always adopt."
3 WEEKS LATER
Cathy was depressed, over the past three weeks; it had been hard getting through the day knowing her family was gone. She was sure her parents told her brother by now, but they were gone forever.
Her parents sent the pastor of their church over with everything her parents had of growing up, pictures, childhood mementos, everything. The pastor even sat with her for over an hour telling her the evils of being a lesbian and how Tammy and she would burn in hell.
Cathy's depression was not only affecting her friendships, it was also affecting her job. Tammy was very helpful; she tried to cheer her up every time she was depressed. She always did something special for her, weather it was a little note left for her on her pillow, or a nice little text message sent to her during day, it always put a smile on Cathy's face
Tammy was good at comforting Cathy. She was as upset with Cathy's parents as Cathy was. Even though Cathy was still hurting, they both decided to tell their friends.
They talked for a week about what would be the best way to do it. Tammy was cleaning up the dishes from dinner when it struck her, she looked at Cathy and said, "Why don't we throw a party and tell them all at the same time."
Cathy looked at her and thought about it, she smiled and said, "That would be a great idea, I am just scared that they will have problems with them."
Tammy hugged her and comforted her, she ran her fingers through her hair and said, I know baby, and you know some of them will have a problem, but I think most will. We should really let the people we work with know as well. I am sick of these entire secrets baby.'
Cathy smelled the perfume on Tammy's neck and whispered in her ear, "I know baby, so am I. I love you so much for all that you done for me. I know I am probably better off without my parents, since they are so closed minded. We need to have the party soon."
Tammy smiled, she too Cathy's hand and started to led her out of the kitchen as she said, "How the weekend after next, it will give us plenty of time to plan and tell everybody."
As Tammy led Cathy through the living room, she replied, "Great, let's invite everybody," she looked at her and asked, "What are you doing?"
Tammy smiled and said, "Tomorrow we will start calling everybody and making the plans for the party, right now, I am taking you upstairs and I am going to cheer you up."
Tammy winked at her and led Cathy upstairs. The next day Tammy and Cathy got home work quickly and they both got started on the plans and calling all their friends.
Time passed very quickly, some of their friends couldn't make, but most of them said they would be there. Cathy was nervous, she had fears from what happened with her parents would happen again, but she knew Tammy would be there for her this time.
The morning of the party finally came; Cathy and Tammy were busy with the last minute preparations. With about an hour to spare, Cathy and Tammy finished everything.
Cathy sat down and was so nervous, her hands were shaking. Tammy walked over to her and held both of her hands and said, "I am here, I am not going anywhere. Don't worry about anyone who can't handle the news. We are going to make it together."
Cathy smiled and her hands stopped shaking. They made their final checks, the snacks were ready, the drinks cold, and the music ready. The party they planned was more of like a social gathering than a party.
Cathy jumped when the doorbell rang and Tammy opened the door and saw a female friend of theirs standing in the doorway. Over the next few hours, more of their friends came over.
It was a few hours into the party and everybody was having a good time. Everybody wondered why they were having the party, Cathy and Tammy never did this, but it wasn't long before they found out.
Cathy and Tammy were in the laundry room talking, Tammy had Cathy pinned against the wall just talking, Tammy said, "Are you ready for this? I think they have enough drinks in them to soften the blow."
Cathy laughed softly and said, "No, I am not ready, but let's get this over with before I change my mind."
Tammy smiled and replied, "I see you're still a little nervous, so am I, but there is one last thing I need to do."
Cathy smiled and blushed a little, "You don't look nervous, you look so calm. What do you need to do?"
Tammy put her arms around Cathy's neck and said as she kissed her, "This." Tammy passionately kissed her and held it for a couple of minutes.
Tammy broke the kiss and they went back to the party holding hands. They walked over to where the music was and both of them took a deep breath.
Cathy turned off the music as Tammy got everybody's attention. Everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at them. They got a little more nervous as all the eyes were on them.
Cathy stood a little behind Tammy who was holding her hand tightly as she said, "I know everybody here is a good friend of me, Cathy or the both of us."
Tammy took a deep breath and continued, "We have a secret we have been keeping for two years now. Cathy and I are lesbians, and we are living together as lovers, not just friends.'
Cathy could feel Tammy's tight grip on her hand, it felt like she was crushing it. The room was silent, and finally, the moment they were waiting for.
Most of the room broke out in cheers, almost all of their friends were happy for the both of them, one person shouted, "When is the wedding?" Another shouted out, "Kiss her."
Tammy let go of Cathy's hand, they stood there facing each other as Tammy was blushing and looking at the crowd. A couple of their guy friends tried to start a chant by repeating, "Do it."
Tammy looked at Cathy, they were both blushing, and finally Cathy smiled and nodded her head up and down giving Tammy permission.
Tammy grabbed Cathy's head with both hands and kissed her passionately, as most of the crowd cheered, but this was the easy part. Not everybody was happy with them and accepted this.
Their smiles turned to anger when a few of their friends spoke up. The festive mood changed when they yelled out things like, "Fags, go to hell all of you," and other colorful language to that was mean and nasty.
Cathy wanted to cry, she was so upset, and it reminded her of what her parents said when she told them. Tammy quickly tried to calm her down as a few of her good friends tried to get the rude people to leave.
After the troublemakers left, they started the music up again, but the festive mood was broken and couldn't get restarted. Several of their accepting friends took them off to the side privately and offered their support.
Some of them even confessed they were either bisexual or lesbian, which surprised them, a couple of them they would never have guessed they were in the lifestyle.
After the party, after everybody left, Cathy and Tammy started cleaning up. Cathy admitted it went better than she expected, but was disappointed about how the jerks reacted.
They decided to wait until the next day to finish cleaning; Tammy called her parents to tell them how the party wet. They were disappointed as well about the jerks who had to destroy the mood, they talked to Cathy and helped cheered her up and promised the next they come for dinner, she will be very happy.
Cathy and Tammy settled into bed after a long rough day and night. As Cathy held Tammy close and tight in bed, she whispered in Tammy's ear, "I love you so much baby."
Tammy smiled and responded, "I know baby, and I love you so much too." They both fell asleep smiling and happy to be together.
Over the next few weeks, Cathy and Tammy were started to be harassed by some of their former friends who opposed them being a lesbian and living together.
They would come home from work and find nasty messages on their answering machine. They would call at all hours of the day and night. Every time they got online, they would find nasty messages in their inbox.
This weighed heavily on both of them. They dredged coming home every day. When they walked in the door, they could see the light flashing on the machine telling them they have messages.
They had no but to delete them one at a time, for fear of losing an important message. They were also receiving many text messages on their cell phones.
They called the police and reported it, but after their investigation, they said the calls and text messages were coming from disposable cell phones, impossible to trace.
They could hear the officers making fun of them because they were lesbians. They didn't care if it continued or not, they thought it was a waste of their time tracking down what they thought were "a couple of pranksters."
The messages went for weeks, they started getting calls at all hours of the night, and it got to the point where they couldn't sleep.
They changed their number several times, as recommended by the police, but after a day or two, it all started again.
After they reported the messages again to the police, but all they did was threaten legal action if they didn't stop wasting their time.
They both slipped into depression, Tammy's parents offered to let them stay there. After three days of quiet, the messages started there as well.
Their depression started affecting their jobs. They were falling asleep, snapping at their co-workers, and even coming in late for work.
Cathy was at work, it was a long day, everybody was pissing her off it seemed. Everybody was giving her more paperwork to do.
Every time someone would place more work for her to do on her desk, she would give them a mean and dirty look. The messages kept her on edge; she had trouble keeping focus on her work.
After a long boring meeting, which she couldn't pay attention she returned to her office. She walked slowly and staggered from lack of sleep.
When she sat back down behind her desk, she stared at all the paperwork that was piled on her desk and sighed. She looked up at the stack of papers and noticed the light blinking on her phone indicating she had a message.
She pushed the button to play back the message and started to cry when it said, "You are a fucking faggot whore, and you and your faggot girlfriend will burn in hell."
Cathy pushed the phone off her desk and just sat there and cried. The message scared that she is not even safe at work anymore, she was at a loss of what to do next.
This went on for the next few weeks. Her depression took over her, even Tammy could not help her much, and she was dealing with the same thing, from the same people.
Finally she went to her boss about the issue. Cathy knocked on the door and her boss told her to come in. She walked in and sat down in the chair in front of him. She waited a couple of minutes until he got off the phone to tell him what was happening.
Before she had a chance to say something, her boss said, "I am happy you are here, I have wanted to speak to you. We have an issue with your behavior lately."
Cathy looked down at the floor and said, "I know Ms. Sterling, I have been very distracted at home and now it's started here at work."
Ms. Sterling leaned back and said, "Cathy, look at me. If someone is harassing you here I need to know about it, we have a strict zero tolerance on harassment in the workplace."
Cathy looked up at Ms. Sterling and said, "Me and my girlfriend just came out, and some of our former friends are harassing us. For the last couple of months, it has only been at home, but a couple of weeks ago, they started leaving messages on my phone here at work."
Ms. Sterling leaned forward slightly and said, "Why didn't you come forward with this earlier? You should have said something."
Cathy looked back at her and said, "What can you do about it? We went to the police and they don't care because we are lesbians."
Ms. Sterling just looked at her while she thought about the situation, she wrote down a few notes and said, "There is not much I can do about what is going on with your personal life, but there is something I can do about the call you receive her. I will contact security and they will track down the people who are leaving a message on your extension, and the company will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law."
Cathy smile slightly and said with half a grin, "Thank you Ms. Sterling, I am sorry about the trouble I have caused the department and the company."
Ms. Sterling started writing on a piece of paper and continued, "You don't need to be sorry, I am giving you the name of an attorney who will help you. He specializes in helping people from the LGBT community."
Ms. Sterling handed Cathy the piece of paper. Cathy looked it over and looked up at Ms. Sterling, she was about to say, "How do you know him?" but she was cut off by Ms. Sterling.
Ms. Sterling took a deep breath and said, "I know him because he helped me out when I came out, I am a transgender woman, my secretary is a lesbian, like you, and there are many in this department and company who are bisexual, gay, lesbian, or transgender."
Cathy didn't know what to say, this was all a wonderful surprise to her. She tried to say something, but couldn't. All she could do was exchange looks with Ms. Sterling.
As Cathy walked out the door, she stopped and turned, looking at Ms. Sterling who started to work on some paperwork and said, "Thank you Ms. Sterling, I will tell my girlfriend about this first thing tonight."
Ms. Sterling just smiled and went back to work, she was anxious as she finished her work and headed home, it was the first time in a long time she actually looking forward to going home.
Tammy was having an equally rough time at work. She was literally in tears at from the nasty messages left on her extension. The phone kept ringing all day long, the people calling would not stop at their torture.
Tammy was at her desk when the president of the company called her into his office. She walked in saw her boss, Mr. Bartlett, sitting behind his desk looking over some paperwork.
When Mr. Bartlett saw Tammy standing there he asked her to sit down. Tammy sat down and there was a long moment of silence before he said, "Tammy, it has come to my attention that you have been receiving harassing messages, is this correct?"
Tammy took a deep breath, she knew she had to carefully choose her words, after thinking for a minute, she finally said, "Yes Mr. Bartlett, I have been receiving the messages, they are being left by some former friends who are upset about a recent announcement me and a friend made about our relationship."
Mr. Bartlett was breathing heavily, the room was silent for a minute before he said, "I see, and what would that announcement be Tammy?"
Tammy knew this would not go well, she took another deep breath and said, "Me and my friend Cathy announced to our friends that we were both lesbian and were living together."
Mr. Bartlett wasn't happy hearing this, he shook his head and said, "You know Tammy, this is a Christian company and we expect everybody to abide by the high Christian morals set forth by the bible."
Tammy was getting upset, she knew what was coming when she replied, "Yes Mr. Bartlett, I do know that, but I am one of your best employees and I have worked here for years."
Mr. Bartlett didn't waste any time responding, "I know Tammy, you have been a trusted employee for many years. But your services are no longer required or wanted here. Security will meet you at your desk; they will escort you out after you gather your personal belongings."
Tammy was almost in tears, she replied, "You can't fire me for being a lesbian, regardless how you feel about us. I bet the press would love to hear about this."
Mr. Bartlett smiled and said, "Really? I am not letting you go because you are a lesbian. I am letting you go because those messages are affecting your work and are a disruption to this company and everybody who works here. Maybe you and your girlfriend shouldn't have made the announcement and just kept it to yourselves, now please leave so this company can get back to business."
Tammy walked back to her desk crying, when she got there, there were two security guards waiting for her.
She quickly put all her belongings into a small box and was escorted out the building as everyone watched and giggled at her.
Tammy stayed home while Cathy went to work. It was hard; finding something to keep her busy while the phone kept ringing and listening to the nasty messages being left on it.
The lawyer Cathy contacted was having trouble getting the police to do a proper investigation, the harassment escalated when they came home from the movies one Saturday night.
They had taken Cathy's car to the movies that night, when they got home; they noticed something written on Tammy's car.
They walked up to her car and saw "FAGS LEAVE" written in what looked like paint on the hood of her car. Tammy knelt down to the ground in tears.
Cathy helped Tammy up and they started walking to the main door of their apartment building. They were horrified when they saw "LEZZYS LEAVE" spray painted on the door.
They managed to make it to their apartment. As they walked through the hallways, everybody was looking at them. They were humiliated in front of everybody.
When they reached the door to their apartment, they found a note from their landlord. Cathy helped Tammy inside and sat her down on the couch as she read the note.
The note said, "I will not tolerate this building or the safety of the other tenants to be put in risk from the vandalism that was done due to your stupidity in telling the world about your sexual preference. I rented to you because you both kept a low profile and kept it to yourselves. Due to the vandalism, I must ask you to leave the building, I will return your security deposit, but expect you both out by the end of the month in a couple of weeks."
Cathy crumpled up the note and threw it across the room. She told Tammy about it and she told her to call her parents. Cathy called them and explained what happened.
Tammy's parents told them to come live at their house until they could straighten things out. Tammy brightened up at the news.
The following weekend they moved out to Tammy's parent's huge house. As the months went by, Tammy looked for work.
Tammy found one, but it was in Columbus, Ohio. After talking to Cathy, they decided to move and start a new life.
Cathy and Tammy finally moved into a nice house Tammy's parents helped them get. The house was like a dream come true, they were so happy.
The next day, their neighbors knocked on the door, when Cathy and Tammy opened the door, they saw two young women standing there.
They all stood there looking at each other smiling, finally one of the neighbors said, "Hi, my name is Samantha, you can call me Sam or Sammy. This is my partner Debbie. We wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood."
Cathy and Tammy looked at each other and smiled, they knew they would finally be happy.
~~THE END~~