People Magazine: October, 2012. Where Are They Now: Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor?

(The article is accompanied by two photos. One is the famous World Series photo of Brian Kinney bending his boyfriend Justin Taylor backwards on top of the Pittsburgh Pirates dugout and kissing him in front of the crowd. The second, taken 10 years later, is of an older Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor. They're dressed in dress shirts and ties and look like typical businessmen. They are in Brian's office at KT Advertising, which they founded together six years ago. They are leaning against Brian's desk. Leaning up against them and held in their arms, dressed as typical 12 year olds, are their sons Gus and Ryan.)

Hall of Fame member Brian Kinney didn't start out to be a roll model or a hero. The man some call the gay Jackie Robinson just wanted to play baseball. "But after living with Justin for two years I couldn't live the lie anymore." So when the Pittsburgh Pirates won the 2002 World Series Brian decided come out in the most public way possible. He celebrated the championship by kissing his boyfriend and partner Justin Taylor on top of the Pirates dugout. "It was kind of spur of the moment. Justin and I had talked about doing something but neither one of us had decided on what."

"He sure surprised the hell out of me." Justin Taylor said looking at Brian and smiling.

With that act Brian Kinney became the first out man playing on a professional sports team in the United States…

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

These were some good memories. You were going through some stuff and had come across this 2 year old People magazine. You're 32 now. It's hard to remember that young man who's in the picture. Hell, I'm as old in the second photo as Brian was when he met me. The only bad thing about the article was that it started off another avalanche of mail but it was worth it. You had to expect stuff like that and the old timers game on anniversaries. But man was it great to finally get even with Brian.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Justin was downstairs watching a movie. You were heading upstairs to do some work before bed. The door to Ryan's bedroom was open. Looks like he's on the computer again flying one of those flight simulators you see as you peek in. Justin got him a couple for Christmas. Since then all we've heard is the sound of planes coming out of his bedroom.

"What ya flying guy?" you ask as you look over his shoulder at the screen.

"Hey Dad, it's called an X-15."

"Never heard of it." you say as you pull up a chair and sit down so you could see the screen over his shoulder.

"It's a rocket powered research plane that flew back in the sixties. They drop it from a B-52 then fly up to about 60 miles. Then it glides back to a landing at Edwards."

"That's where the space shuttle lands sometimes in California, right? Ryan was surprised I knew that. "See your old man isn't so dumb. Fire it up and let's see how it works." You watch Ryan start the simulation. The plane drops off the wing of the bomber. Ryan ignites the rocket and pulls the nose up. You're kind of amazed as you watch him concentrate and work the controls. The sky out of the planes windows turns black. Ryan uses a couple of exterior views. It's amazing how beautiful the Earth looks from this high. The detail is so good you almost feel like you're there

"We just topped out at 63 miles."

You watch Ryan start to lower the nose and descend. The cockpit view is starting to glow orange.

"That's the skin heating up from reentry." he explains.

The glow slowly disappears and there's the airport where he wanted to land dead ahead. He glides over the airport, makes a long wide left hand turn and lines himself up with the runway. He continues to descend and lands right in the middle of the runway and rolls to a stop.

"Damn you're pretty good at this aren't you?"

"Been practicing."

You have an idea in the back of your mind. "How'd you like to learn how to do this for real?"

"Learn how to fly? Cool."

"Let's do some research on the net and see what it would take."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Flying lessons, are you crazy?" Justin asks. The two of you just went to bed. It's a quiet time so you thought it would be a good time to talk about what you and Ryan talked about.

"Maybe. He's old enough. You can learn but you can't get a license till you're sixteen. It's like driving a car."

"You can't crash a car from 10,000 feet."

"The worst that can happen is he tries the real thing and doesn't like it."

"The worst that can happen is he tries it and likes it."

Justin isn't too thrilled about this. "Let's not be our parents. Maybe he's found that passion in his life. Let's not fight him."

"That's a low blow Kinney." You see Justin is really thinking. "Ok, but just find somebody reliable that isn't going to get him killed."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Hi, I'm looking for the owner."

"That's me. I'm Ted Lyons."

"Brian Kinney." The two of you shake hands.

"You looking to learn how to fly?" He asks

"No, it's for my son Ryan. He's 14."

"He's a little young."

"I know but he's been taking those computer simulators pretty series. Thought I'd give him a chance at the real thing and see if he likes it."

"Ok we got an introductory flight. We'll see if he's got the aptitude. Tomorrow at 10 am sound good?"

"Sounds good."

Ted offers you a beer and the two of you just sit and talk for awhile. You find out he was in the Air Force and fought in Desert Storm as a fighter pilot. He opened the flight school after he retired. Gives him a chance to write off his flying as a business expense he says. You tell him about the Pirates, Justin, the firm and adopting Ryan.

"Thought the name sounded familiar." He says.

After a couple of hours the two of you are acting like old friends. The next morning you arrive early with Ryan and introduce him.

"Ok my young Jedi, I already did the preflight so let's head out and see what you got." Ted tells Ryan.

You watch the two of them get in the plane and take-off. You just sit and wait. An hour later you see their plane land and taxi back. Ryan gets out with the biggest grin you've ever seen on him.

"Ryan, go get some Cokes for us. I want to talk to your dad for a minute." Ryan heads off around the corner as Ted comes over. "Brian that kid's a natural. Best raw pilot I've seen in years. If you think I'm just blowing smoke up your ass so you'll pay for his lessons then go somewhere else. That kid's got the gift."

"He's that good?

"He could be."

Ryan comes back over with three Cokes. He's already giving you that "can we dad" look. "You really want to do this?" you ask. He shakes his head yes with a big grin.

"Ryan there's one condition." Ted says "Your grades drop at school and I'll personnel ground your ass. You understand, school comes first."

"Yes sir." Ryan answers.

"Good." Ted puts his arms around yours and Ryan's shoulders and leads the two of you into the office. "Gentlemen, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

And it was. Over the spring and summer Ryan worked hard both at school and on his flying. Ted wasn't going to let him slide on anything. He was a hard and demanding taskmaster because he saw Ryan's potential. I still think it's amazing that here was a kid who didn't have a drivers license flying all over Pennsylvania.

And since he couldn't drive, Justin or I usually gave him a lift to the airport. I arrived one afternoon to pick him up. Ted was alone in the office.

"Hey Yoda where's the Jedi?"

"Flying a few laps around the airport."

"Alone?" I asked with a little fear in my voice.

"He was ready to solo. C'mon lets go watch him land." Ted leads me out onto the tarmac. "Brian, you remember your first time with a woman?" I give him a look. "Sorry, forgot. It was a guy right?"

"Yeah."

"Remember ever detail about it?"

"Of course."

"Well that's the way that kid's going to remember today. You only solo once." He looked at you and gives you an evil grin. "You know there's a tradition that every student pilot is supposed to go through when he solos." Ted tells you about it and you began to understand that evil grin. You get on the phone and plan a little surprise for Ryan when he arrives at home.

Ryan couldn't wait to get home and tell his brother and Justin about what he did. He was so excited he didn't notice that the three of us had him surrounded.

"If you want to be a pilot aren't you supposed to observe all the traditions?" I asked. Ryan knew he was busted. "Grab him!" I yelled before he could make a break for it. The three of us had him cold and carried him out into the backyard and threw him in the pool. The tradition Ted told me about is that a student pilot is supposed to be dunked into the nearest body of water when he solos. The pool was close enough. Ryan came up laughing and we helped him out, clothes and all. Nothing was going to ruin his day. Justin told him to go change and him and Gus headed upstairs with Ryan telling Gus in an excited voice all about his first time flying alone all the way up the stairs.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was almost fun raising two teenagers. But Ryan had some special needs. He was adopted and was starting to ask questions we didn't know if we could or should answer. One afternoon Brian was busy so I picked Ryan up after his lesson. He was kind of brooding. So I just left him alone and didn't bother him with a bunch of small talk.

"Dad, what do you know about my mother?"

That came out of left field but Brian and I had decided we would try to answer any questions he had no matter what. "Not much, other then she couldn't take care of you. That's why you were put up for adoption."

"So why wasn't I adopted. I read somewhere everyone wants infants."

God this is going to be hard. You take a deep breath. "You sure you want to know this?" He shakes his head yes. "You had cocaine in your system when you were born."

"What??? My mother was a drug addict?"

"Ryan nobody knows that for sure." It's time to pull the jeep over. You're not going to try and drive and have this conversation. "Your mother probably knew she couldn't take care of you. She loved you enough to give you up and give you a chance at a better life."

He's sitting there try to understand what he's just heard. "So why wasn't I adopted?"

"Nobody knew if the drugs had done any damage. By the time they found out you were ok you were out of that prime adoption age."

"Nobody wanted me?"

"They wanted something else." Ryan just sits and stares out the jeeps window. Not saying a word.

"Why me? Why did you and dad pick me?"

You sit and smile at the memory. "You picked us. When you asked if we were going to be your new mommy and daddy we knew you were the one. Remember?"

"A little. You sat and drew with me, right." Ryan smiled at the memory

"I still have them. You ok?"

"It's just a lot to think about."

"I know. Just remember you're our son. We love you and nothing can ever change that. Lets go home." You say with the emphasis on the word home. That gets you another smile in return.

When you get home Ryan goes up to his room, closes the door and puts some music on. Or at least what passes for music the kids listen to these days. You start dinner and tell Brian the whole story about the conversation when he comes home from work.

"Should I go knock on his door? Brian asks you.

Couldn't hurt." you suggest.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

You knock on Ryan's door and then poke your head in. "Hey."

"Hi." He says softly.

He's sitting on his bed kind of curled up. You go over and sit down and take him in your arms. "Your dad told me about what happened today. You ok?"

"Yeah."

"Kind of ruins your Superman fantasy doesn't it." Every adopted kid has that fantasy at one time or another. Clark Kent has to be the most famous adopted kid in history. And I know he knows the story line because of his Uncle Mike. I think he knows the storyline to every comic book that was ever printed because of Mike. "But I still think every teenager should have to prove they're not from another planet." That gets a laugh and a smile out of Ryan. But then the smile disappears.

"I hate her dad."

"Ryan don't ever hate her. What she did she did out of love. I know how hard it must have been for her." Ryan gives you that "yeah right" look. "When Lindsay asked me to help father Gus I thought I'd just make my little contribution and that would be that. I'd stay out of his life and let his mothers raise him. But when I saw him the night he was born I knew I couldn't just walk away. Your mother did something I couldn't do. She gave you a chance at a better life. That was the greatest thing she could have done."

"Thanks dad."

"C'mon dinners almost ready. You know how cranky your father gets when we're late for dinner."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The terrible teenage years. It wasn't as bad as we expected. I know they went through the drinking and drug phases like the rest of their friends. But it didn't get to out of hand. We also had the additional joy of Ryan getting his pilots license and his drivers' license in the same week. Grin and bear it, right. You got to let them make their own mistakes and grow up.

The really weird part was when the girls started showing up. We figured Ryan would be straight but not Gus. That kind of freaked Brian out a little. "Where did we go wrong, we raised a couple of straight kids?" He used to ask me a lot and only half in jest

But what really freaked Brian out was when the boys started talking about where to go to college. Gus wanted to go into the firm. We never pushed him at all along those lines. He had worked some summers and must have seen something he liked. He decided on Penn State for his marketing degree. But Ryan was the real surprise, he wanted to go the Naval Academy.

Debbie had kept in touch with Senator Baxter over the years. With a little help from her Ryan got his appointment. It wasn't a gift. She thought Ryan was one of the most qualified candidates she ever nominated.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was Ryan's unofficial graduation day from flight school. He needed to report to Annapolis the following week and Ted was giving him one last blow out. Ted had been teaching him acrobatics and then graduated him to dog fighting. Ted said if he was going to be some fancy naval aviator he was going to learn how to fly right. "Missiles are nice but sometimes you got to close in and it turns into a knife fight. By the time I'm done with you that other poor dumb SOB won't stand a chance." Today the master and the student were going to square off. Ted had got some special planes for Ryan and him. They were specially stressed for rough handling and had special electronics to record who "shot down" who.

Ted owned a farm with a grass strip. It was going to be a beautiful spring day so Justin and I headed out to watch the boys go at it. We could watch from the ground and listen to their conversations by radio. After the first hour it was about even. Ryan had Ted lined up for a kill shot when all of a sudden Ted's plane flipped over and started tumbling to Earth. All I could think was this was it. Ted just bought it. Ryan followed him down, screaming over the radio at Ted to get out. Then a miracle happened. Ted's plane suddenly righted itself. He pulled up and did half a loop. Lined Ryan's plane perfect in his gun sight and "shot" him down. Then we heard Ted's voice over the radio.

"Sorry I had to do that to you kid but that was a last lesson you needed to learn. Never, ever, take anything for granted in the air. Your opponent isn't dead until you see him eject or his plane break up. Never get caught again with your pants down like I just caught you. Now let's go home."

Ryan was still pretty shock up after they landed. Ted fixed it by giving him his graduation gifts. First was a t-shirt that said "Graduate: Uncle Teddy's Flight School." That also had a picture of a guy reading an upside down instruction manual while flying an airplane. The second was a cap with a propeller on top that said "I is a Pilot."

"Ryan I've taught you everything I can. Go show those Navy pukes how a real pilot flies."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

We had just got home after dropping Gus off at Penn State a little while ago. Ryan had been gone since the beginning of the summer. I caught Justin standing in the doorway to Gus's room getting all misty eyed. I walked up behind him and took him into my arms and just held him.

"Our babies are gone." was all he said.

"Trust me, they'll be back."

"It'll never be like it was."

"Yeah, loud music, the house a mess, having to lock our door when we want sex. God I'm going to miss that."

"Yeah it was kind of funny when they were kids and they'd catch us and point and giggle."

"I love you.' I whispered in his ear.

"I love you to."

"It's going to be cool tonight. Why don't you go start a fire in the fireplace."

"And?" A smile came on Justin's face.

"I'll go get that bearskin rug we got stored away."

"And?" The smile got even bigger.

"Can't tell you all my surprises. But I don't think we'll have worry about locking any bedroom doors tonight.""

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Where did the years go you think? They just graduated college, Gus from Penn State, Ryan from the Naval Academy. Ryan graduated first in his class. Well don't ask and don't tell you thought as the President shook his hand and handed him his diploma. And now it's their wedding day and you're adjusting Gus's tie. They both gave us the news a few weeks apart last year. Gus was marrying his high school sweetheart. Ryan's future wife was a girl he had met in Maryland the year before. Since the four of them planned to get married at the same time they all decided on a double wedding.

"I know as your father I'm supposed to say some profound thing to the two of you. I've never been very knowledgeable about relationships." You hear Justin smirk. You ignore it. "Just never forget to tell them you love them every day. That was a lesson I learned the hard way. Your father never heard the first time I told him. He was in that hospital bed and I thought I had lost my chance forever. Never miss a chance.

"Why Brian Kinney, that's the nicest thing you ever said." Justin said.

"And one more thing, no rushing to make us grandparents." You added

"Don't you listen to that." Justin interrupts. "I want a house full of grandchildren so get to work. I want you practicing five times a day making us grandparents."

"Brat."

"Twat."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The church was packed. The four of them looked fantastic. Justin would have loved the two of us doing this. I can just see it now, my big fat gay wedding. Debbie and Emmett of course cried buckets. Even Justin and the munchers joined in. And I don't care what any lying son of a bitch says they saw, it's those damn allergies I caught from Justin.

You're watching your sons and new daughter-in-laws dance their first dance as husband and wife. Soon people start heading out on the dance floor to join them. You turn to Justin, stand up and hold out your hand. "Well, shall we go scare the in-laws?' you ask with a smile. Justin takes your hand, giving you the biggest sunshine smile you've seen in years. The two of you head out on the dance floor take each other in your arms and start to dance. Not caring what anyone thinks. You think about a moment in the past where this should have also happened. I wish I had been at his prom and been able to do this. Maybe things would have been different.

"I've always wondered why do you always lead?" Justin asked, breaking you from your thoughts

"Because I'm bigger." You answer.

"You're taller. Let's be accurate."

You just look at each other and smile at the joke. Justin puts his head on your chest and the two of you continue dancing. Just two gay men dancing at their sons' wedding.