Coming Out Read Online Free PDF

It was an interesting question, but the girls were not Jewish, and they were descended from two powerful, well-known, aristocratic WASP families. And she and Harry didn't have a daughter. The question was moot for them. She knew without a doubt that Chauncey expected his daughters to come out. He would have been horrified if they didn't. And even though she was far more liberal than her ex-husband or his wife, she still felt it was a harmless tradition. She thought Harry was overreacting, and so were the girls.
    “I understand about the discriminatory aspect. This isn't intended to hurt people, just to give some girls a night of fun. It's like being Cinderella. They wear a pretty white dress, and at midnight it's over. Is that so terrible, so wrong? Why is that such a big deal?”
    “Because it excludes people. Nazi Germany was founded on principles just like these. This is an Aryan elitist party, the girls being presented, if that's what you call it, are Aryans presumably. Maybe they have a token Jew or two, but the whole concept is wrong, the principles are wrong. Jews have been discriminated against for thousands of years. I don't support upholding that tradition. In order to be politically correct in today's world, everyone should be able to sign up if they want to do it.”
    “If that were true, clubs wouldn't exist. Private schools wouldn't exist. Okay, call it a club for WASPs, where their daughters make their debut. I just don't see why this has to be a political issue. Why can't this just be a fun night for the girls and let it go at that?”
    “My mother is a Holocaust survivor,” he said ominously. “You know that. And so was my father. Their entire families were wiped out by people who hated Jews. The people who run this party are racists, from what I can gather. That runs counter to everything I stand for and believe in. I want nothing to do with an event like this.” He spoke to her as though she had just painted a swastika on their kitchen wall. He almost recoiled as he spoke to her, and their son watched, looking suddenly upset.
    “Harry, please, don't make a big deal out of this. It's a coming-out party, that's all it is.”
    “Veronica is right,” he said quietly, and then stood up. He hadn't touched a mouthful of his dinner. Olympia hadn't cut Max's meat, so he was working on his second baked potato. He was hungry. And the grown-ups were confusing. “I don't think the girls should participate in this party,” Harry said firmly, “whether you did it or not. I'm casting my vote with Veronica. And whatever you decide to do about it, don't for a single second expect me to attend.” With that, he threw his napkin on the table and walked out of the room, while Max stared after his father, and then looked at his mother with worried eyes.
    “Sounds like the party is a bad idea,” Max said sadly. “Everybody got really mad.”
    “Yes, they did,” Olympia said with a sigh, sitting back in her chair and looking at him. “It's just a party, Max, that's all it is.” He was the only one left to explain it to, and he was only five years old.
    “Are they going to do bad things to Jews there?” he asked, looking worried. He knew from his grandmother that people called Nazis had done terrible things, although he did not know the details. He knew they had done them to Jews, and he knew that he and his parents were Jewish, as were his grandmother and many of his friends at school.
    “Of course they're not going to do bad things to Jews there,” Olympia said, looking horrified. “Daddy was just upset. No one is going to do anything to Jews.”
    “That's good,” Max said, looking slightly reassured. “I guess they're not going to go to the party, though, huh? I think Ginny wanted a new dress.”
    “Yes, she did. I don't know if they'll do it or not, but I think they should.”
    “Even if you can't get husbands for them?” Max asked with interest.
    “Even if we can't get husbands for them,”