ROOS Gautier TS3 This is an extract entitled « Letter to Mama » from the book « More Tales of the City », published in 1990 and written by Armistead Maupin. This is a letter, a young man called Michael addresses to his mum to confess his parents that he is gay. At the beginning, the first two paragraphs relate Michael’s coming out. Indeed, we can notice that he is telling his parents that he is gay. The narrator starts the letter by apologies, because he needs a long time to write it : he mentions clearly that he was usually trying to write any letter, but he couldn’t express the feelings which are in his heart. Moreover, he also says he has written this text because of his mother’s involvement in a campaign against the homosexuality, named Save Our Children. So he wants his mother to tell that her own child is gay. The narrator apologies again for the way his mother feels when she’s reading the paper. Michael achieves this passage by specifying that revulsion, shame or disbelief was a part of him, as the color of his eyes, even as a child. In a second time, the third paragraph refers to the being way of the narrator. In this passage, he tells he always felt excluded, so he wished to meet someone who understands and reassures him. So he relates he had to find out on his own, that gay people are like everyone else. So he explains that San Francisco is full of straight and gay people, who are tolerant with each other and consider each person like an ordinary person, without prejudices. Finally, he tells his mother that he doesn’t know who is responsible for the way he is, but he’s sure that being gay is the light and the joy of his life. Then he specifies the qualities of the gay people : if we read closely this passage, we can deduct that he has learnt tolerance, compassion and humility. He also insists he likes his new family of man. But despite the fact of being homosexual, he adds he is the same that his mother has always known, her son Michael, who