As I was researching and learning about James Barry, what I found so incredibly amazing is that he and Nightingale interacted and crossed paths. It made me think of all the other queer people that I have crossed paths with in the past and may not have even known it. We may have had a sense, but we didn't come out to each other, whether it was a quick interaction or a business interaction.
Just thinking back on your own life and all of the different people that you have met that you cross paths with, there was some sort of energy between you and that person, and it was never understood or clarified. It reminds me to live fully as myself, honestly as myself, publicly as myself, so that it can bring connection. Maybe Barry and Nightingale would not have connected if they had known the full truth of each other, and yet maybe they would have understood each other a little bit more or given grace and space for the other to exist. They would have understood why both of them had to act so boldly and strong-headedly.