Tito—A Remembrance of My Father

Tito Cepeda Baza, the author’s father, left Guam, arrived in San Diego having joined the US Navy, and married into a Mexican American matriarchy. He attained the rank of Chief Petty Officer despite the Navy’s segregation of Pacific islanders—Guamanians and Filipinos—as Stewards, virtually menial servants. Tito’s first-born son, Larry Tito Baza, delicate and effeminate as a boy, was loved. As Baza grew older, he “butch[ed] it up,” married a wonderful woman, then divorced to embrace gay sexuality, but found the mainstream LGBT movement generally insensitive to race and class issues. When Baza participated in this country’s civil rights, Chicano, and anti-war causes, Tito was proud. When Baza came out to him, Tito loved him still, and bonded with Baza’s partner through gardening.