Life

The advice this 1950s dairy farmer gave to his gay son will make you cry

The advice this 1950s dairy farmer gave to his gay son will make you cry
One day, Patrick’s father, sensing his son was gay, sat him down and gave him a piece of advice he still carries with him to this day:
One day, Patrick’s father, sensing his son was gay, sat him down and gave him a piece of advice he still carries with him to this day:

Patrick Haggerty grew up in rural Dry Creek, Washington during the 1950s. His father, Charles Edward Haggerty, was a dairy farmer. When he was a teenager, Patrick starting becoming aware of his sexuality, but he kept it hidden as best he could.

One day, Patrick’s father, sensing his son was gay, sat him down and gave him a piece of advice he still carries with him to this day: “Don’t sneak. Because if you sneak … it means you think you’re doing the wrong thing.”

“Of all the things a father in 1959 could have told his gay son,” Patrick recalls, “my father tells me to be proud of myself and not sneak. … I had the patron saint of dads for sissies. No, I didn’t know it at the time, but I know now.”

Watch the touching video below.

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