Mike Balaban shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Mike, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Integrity, aka honesty, has always been a trait that I value greatly. In truth, I don’t have the ability to lie successfully.
If I try to lie, my whole demeanor changes and it’s immediately apparent that something is wrong.
When I was 23, I had been suspecting I might be gay but was afraid to acknowledge that truth.
I met David Kopay 50 years ago this week just after he had publicly acknowledged he was gay, the first prominent athlete to ever take that step. I was 23 1/2.
Meeting a masculine, unaffected, openly gay athlete who demonstrated it was possible to be gay and out without being miserable led to me telling my family and friends a month or so later that I thought I was gay.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Mike Balaban or Bammer. My brand is BAMMER47, combining a misspelling of my last name with my college varsity football number at Brown University in the early 1970s.
I am an accidental gay historian. I use vintage photos I took from the 70s onward to tell stories about what being gay was like in the past as well as comparing that to today. Many younger LGBTQ people aren’t aware of our community’s history. Many aren’t even familiar with the incredible devastation AIDS wrought on the gay male community.
I use thirst traps to entice viewers (30,000 on Instagram currently), while educating them with 400 word narratives about our community’s history.
I believe we have an obligation to come together as a family, whether or not we feel we have much in common with the other components of the LGBTQIA community If not, we are destined to lose our hard fought civil rights. Anti-LGBTQ forces are using our differences to turn us against each other and we must come together and recognize our commonality as outsiders in society.
In addition to managing pages on 5 or 6 social media platforms, I have begun exhibiting my photos in art galleries and selling photos to those who desire them. Finally, I serve on boards of two LGBTQ non profits: NewFest and Athlete Ally. I dedicate my life to being a proud lgbtq activist.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
I was raised in a conservative, southern religious area during segregation and was taught that any sexual contact between two people of the same sex was evil. I believed that for 20+!years.
I came out as gay at 24 and spent the next 20 years rooting out the vestiges of internalized homophobia within myself.
Finally, in the last 30 years I have fully accepted myself as a proud gay man and have served as an activist for lgbtq rights on many non profit boards and in my current role as an “accidental gay historian” on social media.
What fear has held you back the most in your life?
The fear of people knowing the real me was a paralyzing force in my early life, particularly as I feared I might be gay (I am.) and that was unacceptable socially during my formative years.
I have worked very hard to overcome the vestiges of my internalized homophobia from my childhood.
It has also taken me many years to accept and openly show other “core gifts”, such as my absolute honesty, my generosity, my need to express my sensitive side, and my desire for connection and community. I’m finally owning these traits and it is incredibly liberating.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
I am an incredibly transparent individual, in large part because I don’t have a capacity for lying.
So my public self is the real me.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope it is widely known and accepted that I have dedicated my life to educating people about the lgbtq community, to giving in material and non material ways, and to supporting the causes and the community I am an integral part of.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bammer.co
- Instagram: @bammer47
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikebalaban?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Twitter: @bammer47
- Facebook: Mike Balaban
- Youtube: @bammet47
Image Credits
None
