Meet Ron Knowling

When Ron Knowling was young he was geeky. He admits it. He read a lot and was more interested in computers than in girls. Some of that has changed. Oh, he still likes to read, but he's more interested in human issues than computers. And girls ... well, he likes girls, but ... he loves a man. Ron is gay. When he looks back he feels he was always gay. Like everyone, he had crushes on his teachers, but for Ron the crushes were always on male teachers. He was never called the names we often hear for homosexuals. Names like "queer" or "faggot." Oh, he heard those words used, but because Ron never stuck out he escaped the abusive names. He was just Ron and Ron was geeky and that was fine by him.

The Man

Photo: Ron Sansome
Ron and Dame Edna at Madame Tussard's Wax Museum in London, England

Ron is a soft-spoken and charming man. He is tall and he carries an air of tranquillity about him. You can also sense an impish quality in Ron. He smiles frequently and gets very excited when he talks about ideas. He lives with his widowed mother in a bright and airy house near the university His mother, Kathleen Knowling, is a well-known St. John's visual artist. She has always been very supportive of Ron's sexual orientation. She also supports his political activity for gay rights. Ron's father passed away in 1998. When Ron "came out" to his father in 1985, his father was not very understanding. "Dad wasn't loud or angry about it," says Ron, "he just didn't understand. My father was born in 1910 and he wasn't very informed on such matters as sexual orientation." Ron's "coming out" and "being out" were not as difficult as it is for some gays. But he has been beaten up in St. John's and he knows it was because he is gay.