Baughman pitched Life Magazine a story that would explore this question.
![two gay men making out two gay men making out](http://www.emo-corner.com/emo-boys-kissing/images/kissing.gif)
Men like Michael and Robert worried whether federal power might take their children from them for having same-sex partners. Baughman was also aware that a pending federal court case would decide whether gay fathers could have custody rights. Baughman learned of the emotional and psychological pain and coping strategies that sometimes led to substance abuse. Most gay dads lived as straight men in marriages. In the 1980s most gay men still did not talk about or admit to being gay. Compelled to understand what necessitated these meetings, he was permitted to attend and meet the group’s members. In the fall of 1982, Baughman’s attention was caught by a small notice, almost missed, in the Village Voice, an alternative newspaper in New York City, for the monthly meeting of the Gay Fathers’ Forum support group. In his memoir, Angle, Baughman recounted how the powerful image of Robert and Michael-along with Eryn on piggyback-came to be. While running Visions between 19, he also worked on assignments for Life Magazine, pointing his camera to cover Cuban refugees, AIDS, and wars in central America and the Middle East. Within a few years he left the Associated Press and opened the photo agency Visions. Ross Baughman.īaughman, a photojournalist with an interest in social justice, won the 1978 Pulitzer-Prize for his photographs of the brutal treatment of prisoners by Rhodesian Security Forces. The story of Gay Dads Kissing is a story about commitment to showing love and the waking up of the publishing world. Gay Dads Kissing was a history-making photograph that continues to hearten and resonate with many. Ross Baughman, it was the moment he was positioned for and waiting to capture.
![two gay men making out two gay men making out](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/37/fd/f8/37fdf837332c7b2a24b28e7dace5c600.png)
For Michael and Robert, the quick peck before a walk around the lake with Michael’s son was an ordinary moment.