They built homes, raised their kids and never strayed from their marriage. There’s no two ways to it,” Cyndi said of what she and Brad were taught.Įven as strides were made nationally for gay rights, the Marlers feared being found out. “Being homosexual, you’re just going to go straight to hell. Having grown up in religious households in small Illinois communities, coming out wasn’t an option for the Marlers, who marked 32 years of marriage in September. It wasn’t until 2005 that I officially came out at work,” he said. “It was common practice to stay in the closet if you wanted to have a job. That’s not to deny so many amazing shifts in public attitudes, in laws, in policies, but it did not wash away a hundred years of homophobia in society,” said Ilan Meyer, a distinguished senior scholar of public policy with the Williams Institute.īob Mueller, 75, who grew up in suburban Chicago and now lives in Iowa, didn’t breathe a word of his sexual orientation to his family until he was 40, when he wanted them to meet his partner. are coming out at a younger age than previous generations, Brad and Cyndi are part of a segment of the LGBTQ community that waits until later in life. While research from the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy shows that people in the U.S. “We always said it was us against the world,” Brad said.Īfter living what they call “the all-American life” in the small Illinois towns of Smithton and Freeburg, the Marlers, now both in their late 50s, decided they need to “live authentically.” They’ve come out to their two adult children - a son and a daughter - and are navigating new lives in Chicago. Then, for more than three decades, they told no one else. For Brad and Cyndi Marler, it was that they are both gay.Ī few years after their wedding, they told each other their secret. Skip and Rick would continue on, with Skip eventually taking the win.CHICAGO > A lot can be hidden behind a marriage. Rick had moved to the front, and Chuck and Skip were battling for second when they touched wheels exiting the high speed turn 1. I was able catch the lead pack, and had a front row seat to watch Chuck, Skip, and Rick battle for the lead. At this point, I had set fast lap of the race. I was able to finally pass Jeff as he went wide in turn 1, and now I was chasing down the leaders. While I spent the next few laps looking for a way around Jeff, the three FF leaders started to pull away.
Unfortunately, I did not make it clear of the F500 car, and had to settle in behind Jeff through turn 1. At the start, the three lead FF cars (Chuck Horn, Skip Streets, Rick Payne) got around the polesitting F500 class car of Jeff Jorgenson. I started Sunday's race in 5th position overall, fourth in my class. Here is the in-car video from the Sunday race.ĪpSCCA MAjors - Thunderhill raceway park, willows, caįor Sunday's race, Doug Learned had made a couple of changes to the car, and I was feeling confident with my pace. I finished 4th in the Sunday race, and rolled the car back on the trailer to fight another day. And got better and better through the esses. I was pretty quick up through the fast turn 1. While my ultimate lap times were not as quick as they needed to be, I was still able to get more comfortable with the tougher sections of the track. But once I realized what was happening, I was able to manage it by being more conservative in the braking zones.
Not a good situation to not have full control of the foot that is responsible for the brake pedal. Not ideal considering I left foot brake in the race car. So I struggled through the rest of the weekend with a numb left leg and foot. And in Saturday's race, that problem popped back up. Several years ago I had some spinal issues that severely compressed a nerve and caused numbness and loss of strength in my left leg.
But then Saturday, an old nemesis showed up. I steadily progressed through the first part of the weekend, getting quicker with each sessions. The weekend started with a test day on Thursday, which was a good chance to get better acclimated to this technically challenging track. June 29 - July 2 we were racing in the San Francisco Regional races at Sonoma Raceway. JSFR SCCA regionals - Sonoma Raceway, sonoma, ca