And then when you go to high school, it became highly more competitive because I was from a small town. So I would say between eighth grade, ninth grade, and tenth grade, because that was quite a difficult transition from elementary school and high school because I went to a very small elementary school and where everybody knew each other. And then you do try to change or pray the gay away because you're stuck. Partial Transcript: There is a certain period of time I would say I knew by being gay early on, you don't tell anybody. Keywords: Childhood Coming Out Conforming Faking it Family Feminine Gay Living Closeted Peer pressure UNC Asheville 00:08:19 - Living a closeted life And then I was the kind of person that, "All right. But all it takes is one or two times to hear it. I don't think the word faggot was really or queer was. I mean there were a few times people may say gay boy. So here you have a kid who is already shy and kind of guarded and an introvert, and so now he has heightened his awareness of what people may think or what I might say and those type of things. And that was the tough part because with that despite being in a good family, you learn a lot. Now I would certainly fake because that was what you were supposed to do. Some people will say whenever was 15 or 16 or whenever I was 25, to me, as soon as I can remember if there was an attractive boy or a man, that's what I was gravitated to. Partial Transcript: I mean I can't say my childhood was great because I knew that I was gay. Keywords: Appalachian Trail Childhood Gay Youth Hot Springs, NC Introvert Mountain living Parents Rural life Not until Kelly went away to college at UNC Asheville did he tell the first person he was gay. He explains that he had a supportive home and family, and he always knew he was gay but "would conform to protect" himself. His parents still live in Hot Springs, in the same house since 1973.
Segment Synopsis: Kelly provides overview of his upbringing in Hot Springs, NC, as the child of an elementary school principal. It was a community, very close knit, small again with 500 people.
But that was kind of the good thing about living in Hot Springs. But you also certainly had your mountain folk type of population. You have what we would back in the day call "hippies" that would walk the Appalachian trail. The Appalachian Trail goes right through town. And so Hot Springs, North Carolina is a very small town in Madison County. So I've lived in Western North Carolina my whole life, 47 years. Partial Transcript: So I was born in Asheville literally, but I'm from Hot Springs.