Wow, what an intriguing question this is for me......ive done a lot of soul searching here....not only thinking, "did Alma Jnr know Ennis was gay"...but..."did I know MY dad was gay".....
To put you in the picture, I will briefly tell you my story....will try to keep it short so as not to bore you.....
My father separated from my mother when i was seven (in 1958) to live with his male partner....they lived together for the following 14years....i lived with my mother, but had continual and constant contact and visits with my dad and his partner....back in those days...late fifties, and thru the sixties, homosexuality was illegal here in Australia, so my dad and his partner just told everyone that they were brothers, and if I ever talked about Allen (dad's partner) i too, just referred to him as "dads brother".....(funnily enough, i never referred to him as "my uncle", he was "dads brother").....i loved him dearly as I was growing up, thought of him like a big brother, he was only ten years older than me, spoilt me and my sister, took us to the pictures, the beach, bought us records (musical ones), we had a great relationship.....they also came to my mums home for christmas, birthdays etc, so the family unit, although unusual, especially for those times, was still a happy and comfortable family unit.
I have been sitting here trying to think back, as to whether I KNEW my father was gay......(we used the term "homosexual" then)......
I guess I knew that Dad and Allen had a "partnership" of some sorts, knew that they were a "couple".....but as it is with most children, no matter what era they grow up in, no matter who their mother or father are living with....kids dont relate or even think too much about, the sexual side of their parents relationship......I was no different.....
I guess, because of the era, I was not subjected to too many questions or inuendos from my friends....when they asked who Allen was, I just said "Dad's brother", and that was accepted, no more questions asked....there was no embarrassment or any feeling of "hiding" anything.
Ironically, I was more embarrassed about the fact that my mum and dad were divorced, than anything else, because in those days, not many, if any, of my friends had parents who were divorced....(how times have changed)...
When I was 16, and had just met my future husband, my dad, actually sat me down and spoke the words, saying....."you probably all ready have guessed it, but I need to tell you, Allen and I are homosexual"....
You know how it is, when your parents sit you down to tell you about the "birds and the bees"?....you all ready know, and its a bit embarrassing actually hearing them say it....??.....well, thats what it was like.....he told me,I was a bit embarrassed.... then we just went on the way we had always gone on......easy as that...
In the following years, my Dad and Allen's life changed, as did my own....things happened that I did not understand, Allen left Dad....a few years later,Dad committed suicide...some very tragic times......and many years, of pushing a lot of things out of my mind....
Seeing the movie, finally made me see and realize the emotional side of my father's relationship.....finally made me understand the kind of love he had for Allen, and the pressures and social discrimination that they both endured to have that relationship.....knowing my Dad, when I look back now, he must have been so happy that me and my sister, just accepted them as who they were, we loved them both and knew they loved us.....what else mattered.....
As I watched the movie, I probably saw for the first time, through Alma Jnr's eyes, what I myself had seen all those years ago.....my Dad, too, went off to live alone in a caravan (trailor), just like Ennis did....like her, I sat on the bed, and looked at my lonely Dad, and knew that he had lost the love of his life, knew that he loved me, but mourned the losss of the love that he could have no more......
I dont know if she thought her dad was "gay"....but she did know he had loved someone, and I assume she knew it was Jack who had been the one, he had loved and lost......
