At age 22, Leslie Shear was petrified to tell her parents she was gay. After all, they hadn’t reacted well when her brother came out.
“First my parents denied. Then they cried. Then they pried,” the UW Law School assistant professor told a crowd of about 100 during a town hall meeting of Madison’s Jewish community Thursday night at Temple Beth El on the city’s near west side. Oh, and then they sent her to a psychiatrist.