In December 2005, Kerry Pacer, then 17, was featured on the cover of the national gay news magazine The Advocate as its "Person of the Year" — making her the youngest gay person to achieve that honor – for fighting for a "gay-straight alliance" at White County High School in Cleveland, Georgia. But there’s apparently no embarrassment for the gay press....when she takes on a boyfriend and they have a baby. In The Washington Blade, Dyana Bagby reported:
But today she lives with her boyfriend, a construction worker, and their baby daughter, Marley, who turns 1 year old on Saturday.
"Well, she’s the most beautiful blue-eyed girl in the world and everybody tells me that so I’m not just being biased, I swear," Pacer said with a laugh.
"I love every minute of motherhood. It’s been a very big challenge, however I love it. I’ve just been trying to work and go to school and take care of my family," she said.
Pacer, who first came out as gay at age 12, is studying nursing at Gainesville State College and hopes becoming a registered nurse will give her a career that will support her family.
"It’s me and the baby and Shannon [Phagan], who is my boyfriend. We’re still together right now," she said. "And he’s doing really good; he’s helping out a lot and he’s really good with the baby." Pacer and Phagan were friends in high school and hung out with the same people.
"Yeah, well, we got together in high school. We started liking each other and started building a relationship. It was just fate we got together," she said. "You can’t help who you fall in love with. No matter what, you have to be happy and follow your dreams and be who you are."
The gay left would usually endorse the phrase "you can’t help who you fall in love with," but maybe not so much in this slightly embarrassing case. Apparently, those people who insist homosexuality isn’t a choice or something you can change think Pacer’s choices are fine, as long as her politics remain aligned with the gay left:
Pacer stressed that while she is now in love with a man, she is the same person she was when she was battling school administrators to do something about incessant bullying taking place in the halls of White County High School. She and her friends were often called "dykes" and "faggots."
Pacer’s fight for a "gay-straight alliance" led to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. Three years ago, U.S. District Judge William O’Kelley issued a permanent injunction against White County schools, requiring that the GSA and other school clubs be allowed to meet.
The terms of the settlement agreement included policies for 9th through 12th grades that make it clear that harassment against "LGBT" students is not permitted on campus. The school also agreed to provide their faculty with annual "training sessions on how to deal with and prevent anti-gay harassment."
