The Youth Issue: Vince Deal

We were totally wowed by Jason Bolicki‘s cinematic The Youth Issue-related contribution, but we’re in love with this picture of a reader named Vince Deal. Look at that happy two-year old face! Just adorable! It sort of makes us want to go out and do something good, like pushing a kid on the swing or stopping that bus from hitting them.

It’s been a while since that picture was taken – forty-five years, in fact. Yes, that little fagling’s now a 47-year old full-fledged fag living in what he describes as a “very red” state in the Midwest. Though the state’s officially Republican, Deal says, most people are pretty accepting and he doesn’t get that much shit. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, on the other hand, not so cute.

But, Deal seems to think he’s pretty cute, because he sent us another picture of himself – one from his fifth birthday. So, it’s sort of like a flip book, but with only two pages. And not in book form. Dive into the jump to see what three years did to him – let’s just say it’s pretty gay…


Deal recalls that he’s dancing to a presumably educational record called Antonym Island. He says he was “clubbing”, as evidenced by his unzipped pants. As with Andrew Shearer, more proof that sluts are born and not made.

(Oh, he says he’d evidence of Fred Phelps‘ fallacy: “If “God Hates Fags” why did he give me what as a gay boy I prayed for? A husband that loves me, a son, and a beautiful house in the burbs?”

You better recognize, Phelps.)