Reckoning: Chapter 39: Coming Out Summary & Analysis

After her experience with Who Do You Think You Are, Magda questions whether she has the courage her ancestors had to do the right thing. When a director asks her to make a statement supporting gay marriage, Magda wonders if it is time to come out; she is afraid of the public’s reaction, but she knows that she will regret never coming out. Sensing an opportunity to make change, Magda calls a veteran gay advocate, Kerryn Sticker-Phelps; Kerryn arranges for Magda to appear on The Project on Valentine’s Day, 2012.

Magda asks Barb and Chris to attend the broadcast of The Project in person on Valentine’s Day; they promise they will. When Magda invites Margaret, Margaret gives her cautious blessing. Margaret says that Magda owes her parents nothing; rather, they owe her. Magda wonders what she should come out as: she is neither fully lesbian, nor bisexual. After discussing it with a friend, Magda releases a statement supporting gay marriage; the “we” in the statement are the people one encounters in daily life, the public speculates. Knowing people will bother her at home, Magda stays in a hotel with Margaret and Barb.

The day of the show, Magda’s family and friends gather in the studio of The Project. Magda is more nervous than she has ever been. She wants to create a moment of understanding that cuts through gay rights clichés. When the panelists ask, Magda says, in lieu of a word to describe herself, that she is gay and a bit not gay. Catching sight of Margaret in the crowd, Magda prays to the Poles and the Irish. Next morning, Magda finds only positive responses in the paper. A few days later, Margaret relays to Magda love from her Catholic friend whom Margaret feared she would lose over Magda’s coming out; Magda is touched that Margaret had been willing to lose a friend in supporting her daughter.