Ethan Jones’s Coming Out Ritual

A young man stands in a hard, hugging a rainbow umbrella

Autistic activist Ethan Jones, age 26, photo by Maria Hodamarska (mother), taken June 2020.

When the pandemic hit New York, the family moved to Deer Isle, Maine. While there, Ethan told us, that he had time to reflect and embrace what had been an emergent gay identity. On the last day of Pride Week, June 2020, Ethan and Maria invited close neighbors to come and they had a socially-distanced coming out celebration.

We asked Ethan and Maria if they would share a photo of that event; they sent us a photograph from that day, with Ethan embracing a rainbow umbrella that was incorporated into their ritual.

— Faye Ginsburg and Rayna Rapp