The Life and Times of Sophie
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Thirty-three years ago a kid named Larry Graham, just out of high school, came to Chicago from Columbus, Ohio, and stayed at the YMCA. His company had sent him to be a secretary in their new office opening in the Loop. He had already won national fame for being the North American Typing Champion. “They gave us the speech of Nikita Khrushchev, when he pounded his shoe on the table at the U.N. and threatened he would bury us. They put electric wires to the back of my head and an electric eye scanned the copy. One mistake and you were disqualified. I won, typing 177 words a minute. No mistakes!”
Being gay has never been a problem in Larry’s life. It’s something he has always been, always enjoyed, and always been comfortable with. “Look, I was born in a town called Nellie, Ohio. And my father called me ‘Butch.’ That’s my story. Even today at birthday parties I like to wear a T-shirt my friends gave me that says, ‘Butch from Nellie, Ohio.’”
