Phil Hicks

Secrets on the Base Paths Phil Hicks

The struggle of LGBT equality has come a long way in just the past few years. It was and continues to be a true struggle though. Many on both sides of the effort failed to see parallels between LGBT equality and racial equality although they certainly existed. Decades before Love vs. Virginia, not only could African Americans not marry whites, they could be denied jobs and denied services in public places due to who they were. There were even extreme cases of violence against them for the same reason. Does that sound familiar? In the south in the 1920's, what do you think would happen if a white man had a relationship with a black woman? What do you think would have happened to a man who was having a relationship with another man? Likely a similar result. Both had to be kept a secret, truly on the down low. What if these relationships were discovered? With those secrets uncovered, how would anyone help but feel cornered? That brings me to Secrets on the Base Paths. A coming of age story where a young man hears just such a tale from his grandfather.