『 billy porter. fifty. cis man. he/him. 』 did you see ROBERT WRIGHT in APARTMENT #28 in spectrum house? yeah, they’re pretty +OUTGOING, right? they’re very +WELCOMING, too. some say that they can be -ANXIOUS and -CLINGY, but i don’t see it. they work as a GENERAL PRACTITIONER around san francisco. you know, they remind me of A CUP OF WARM TEA IN THE MORNING. i’m glad they’ve been at spectrum house for THIRTY-TWO YEARS. without them, this place just wouldn’t be the same.
hi, everyone! welcome to this little safe space we’ve got going on! pris and i are so excited to welcome you into this happy home! this is robert!
robert preston wright was born in york, south carolina on may 28th of 1970, making him a gemini sun and a pisces moon. here in york, he had a picture perfect childhood. his mom was a secretary at an elementary school just 45 minutes away in charlotte, nc. meanwhile, his father worked so many hours that he rarely got in the way.
as a child, he was considered to be an exemplary student. with straight a’s and his homework always on time, very few teachers ever reported a problem with him, if any. on saturdays, he would ride his bike over to his friends house, though he would always make sure to be back by dinnertime. on sundays, he sang in the choir at the local baptist church. all in all, most viewed him as responsible.
as bobby entered junior high, his peers were starting to exclude bobby from their schoolyard chatter. hell, half of the chatter was about him specifically. the reagan administration was a time of conservatism and so bobby saw himself lessening himself, quieting himself, removing any mannerism or tone that could put him in a bad position.
truthfully, bobby didn’t even know he was on the lgbtq+ spectrum. he just thought he was a feminine straight man. in high school, he dated suzy brown, his childhood friend. he had his first kiss with her. he went to his junior prom with her. he was supposed to spend his future with her. yet, even though he had his life happily laid out for him, something didn’t feel right.
after high school, bobby attended the local community college for a year. it was at this college where bobby made out with another boy in the quad. all at once, the wrongs began to turn to rights, and bobby didn’t want to let go. he had no idea how to tell his loved ones. he shouldn’t. he couldn’t. surprisingly, he didn’t have to.
when he arrived home, he found his mother, his father, and suzy sitting at a table waiting for him. he was befuddled at this gathering. though suzy seemed to take it well, his mother looked distraught. it broke his heart, but he still wasn’t sure why. after his father told him that a neighbor saw him and another boy making out on the quad as they were driving past the school, it began to make sense. what didn’t make sense were the bags near the front door.
“you have to understand, robert.” his father began.
“richard, don’t start.” his mother groaned.
with these words alone, robert knew that his time in this childhood home was coming to a close. he was being kicked out. after all, what would his father’s friends say? what would the town say on sunday morning? his mother clearly seemed to be against this decision, but she seemed to have no say in the matter. with this decision, robert took the money he had and left the only place he had ever known in a huff.
though suzy let him stay at her place for a week, it was short-lived. however, suzy did point him to an apartment in san francisco, one where you could be whoever you wanted to be. this news made bobby’s ears perk up. he had never experienced such freedom before. with this knowledge, he left suzy’s home after a week and took the next six-hour flight to san francisco to start the next chapter of his life.
when he made his way to spectrum house in 1988, he found a man greeting him at the front door, touring him around the complex and treating him like a friend. he would later learn that this man’s name was xavier. with this warm welcome, he felt at home before he even put his security department and moving-in fees down. it wasn’t easy, though. robert initially was in #12, where he roomed with two other strangers due to his lack of rent money. however, despite his difficulties, he was astounded at this place. it was everything he dreamed of.
as years passed, xavier became almost like a father figure to him. he taught robert the important life skills that richard never taught him. as such, he was incredibly distraught in 1993 after his passing. it was a common warning within the house to “not make robert upset”, because practically anything could bring him to inconsolable sobs. he grieved for a long while. hell, he never really stopped. however, he did try to find more productive ways to deal with it. in 1994, robert decided to take up xavier’s “welcoming” role within the house, making himself a tour guide for whoever’s interested in renting an apartment here. it’s a role he still holds to this day.
robert also decided to go back to school, get his degree, and get his doctorate afterwards. following the earning of his degree, he took up a job as a general practitioner at the doctor’s office across the street, where he offers discounted rates to struggling people in the area.
in the beginning, it was very tough. not many people chose to go to him in the ‘90s, especially after the aids crisis. they would pin it down to his mannerisms, his way of speaking, etc. therefore, he found himself feeling pressured to mask crucial parts of himself, just like in junior high. however, unlike when he was a pre-teen, he chose against listening to those pressures. instead, he let his patients see the real him. if they liked it, great. if they didn’t, the door’s to the right.
somehow, robert thought that this job would allow him to stop losing people. however, he later learned that this job would do anything but that. nearly every week, robert finds himself having to call the ambulance for a patient. he doesn’t know whether they make it or not until their next appointment. sometimes they do, but sometimes they don’t. truthfully, robert is sick of it and regrets taking this job on, but he feels as if it might be too late. after all, he’s fifty years old. very few people change their mind at fifty, and he’s not prepared to be one of the few.
alongside his job, robert also met a very special person in 1995, who allowed him to re-learn the meaning of joy. this person would become his husband twenty years later. however, after five years of marriage, they simply grew in separate directions. instead of rings and roses, they now have divorce papers. those papers lead to yet another loss for robert.
in 2018, robert wrote his mother a letter, expressing his forgiveness towards her and his eagerness to get to know her again, if she was interested. robert turned 48 that year, the same age his mother was when bobby was kicked out. he got a letter back from his aunt, saying that his mother died in 2005. this was yet another loss for robert, one in which he could do nothing about.
all in all, robert’s currently at a point where he feels incredibly lost and discouraged. he’s even beginning to lose the strong, thick southern accent that he’s had ever since he first got here. though his depression isn’t at the level it was in 1993, it’s certainly present and unavoidable. will he be able to put all of that loss behind him and be the man that the house needs him to be? who knows? all he knows is that nothing he knows is for certain anymore.
if you read all of that, you may be entitled to financial compensation. if you’d like to know more, please feel free to click on his statistics, connections, pinterest, or playlist. if you’d like to plot with me, please feel free to like this post or message me. here are some wanted connections i have for him.
his ex-husband (on the wc page): these two were together for nearly twenty-five years. they left on amicable terms, but there’s no denying the disappointment they feel at their inability to stay together. they’re friends, but they’re tense friends. with time, hopefully that will change, but in the meantime, they just have to ride the awkward waves that pass.
his niece (on the wc page): robert’s from a very religious family in south carolina. unfortunately, so is she. robert left the coup a long time ago after learning that he was not welcome there, but this muse only left recently, only after realizing she was queer. following her whole coming out situation, he offered his niece a place to stay.
his best friend: this person ideally has been at the house since xavier’s been there. since the two have been there so long, they’ve gotten to know each other over and over and over again. as such, this person is one of the only people robert feels comfortable going to when he’s upset. during such a trialsome time in his life, this person is a well-needed shoulder to lean on, and robert is more than willing to do the same.
people he mentors: robert’s life is a mess, but he’s more than happy to mentor the younger queer people in the complex. after all, he was twenty, thirty, and forty once. he’s all too familiar with the strifes of those times. hopefully, he can do some good.
people he welcomed to spectrum house: since he took xavier’s role and started welcoming newcomers to this queer-friendly complex, he often was the first person many housemates met after moving here. therefore, though these people might not necessarily be all too close to robert, there’s a bond that they share with him that can never be replaced.
