By Stephanie Chen, CNN
(CNN) — Robert Winn met his wife, Christine, in college. He was a fraternity boy. She was a sorority girl. Early in their relationship, he made a confession, a thorny secret he camouflaged from his closest family and friends.
The truth sputtered out awkwardly.
Sensing his nervousness, she speculated he would announce he was sick — or perhaps dying?
He told her he was bisexual.
On the surface, Robert Winn, now 40, and Christine Winn, 41, appear to be like any other blissfully married heterosexual couple. They boast nearly 18 years of monogamous marriage. He’s a well-respected physician, who works with the LGBT community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She’s a successful hospital administrator.
The couple says they’ve grown closer over time, but like any marriage, two people can have differences — including sexual orientation. Christine Winn is straight, and she has been supportive of her husband, who is openly bisexual.
“I don’t think about it [his bisexuality] as a part I have to accept,” she said. “It’s just a part of him like any other husband who loses their socks on the floor or doesn’t take the trash out.”
Her husband feels a sexual and emotional attraction toward men and women. While he fantasizes about Angelina Jolie just as his straight male friends might do, he is also attracted to Brad Pitt.
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5 Comments
Comments
As a bi, married guy, I agree with some of the comments questioning why this guy had to ‘come out.’ I wrestle with it myself. For the most part, I figure it no one’s business (besides my wife’s) who I like. I also wonder if/why any one would care. On the other hand, I do understand that if I wore a “Bi” pin on my shirt every day, it could make it easier on others wrestling with identity to see, “Hey, maybe I’m like him!?!” But is that my job? Do I have some moral obligation to do so? I don’t really think so.
In the end (ha ha ha), only a select few know, a few more may suspect, but as I said, the vast majority likely don’t give a shit.
I’ve seldom read such a precise portray of the way I’ve felt since my coming out as a bisexual man. It is true, that I feel trapped between two worlds, never arriving anywhere because I can’t be figuerred out entirely. I’m thankful, that I didn’t have to come out to my girlfriend, when we started our relationship, because funny enough she had been sort of my hag before that. But she had to struggle with the fear of me coming out as “entirely gay” or “wanting something besides women now and again” in the past. After our three year relationship this has subsided thankfully. But a lot of my friends were actually shocked when they first saw me kissing a girl after anticipating me to be gay, or not believing in my bisexuality before. Of one can say, that this is because they don’t know better (how should they?). But it underlines how difficult it can be for a bisexual individual to be respected, or seen as what he/she really is.
Thanks Marc for the great article. I think of it as a special birthday present from you!
Love you guys!
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