In the 1970s, the family was a primary focus of American culture, and at its center was the father. Is it any wonder why, while this is lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel's story of her growing to accept herself, it is also a reckoning with her father? Throughout the musical we the audience witness her childhood and growth toward adulthood while her family must balance her father’s desires for a richer and fuller life which seems just out of reach. They must also balance knowing that their patriarch is gay, and therefore ultimately an outcast of their town and the perfect American lifestyle they strive to cultivate. The Stonewall Rebellion in New York City’s Greenwich Village in 1969 awakened the American public to the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, and shortly afterward Gay Unions began to become more popular on liberal college campuses like Oberlin College in Ohio. Bechdel makes it clear that while we never see these events in her graphic memoir, Fun Home: a Family Tragicomic, for which the musical is named, they do affect her feelings and how her father experiences the 1970s. To Bechdel, being gay is a joyful, human experience, as it is for most queer individuals. We see Small Alison recognize herself when she sees a delivery driver, a butch lesbian, and Medium Alison finds community and first love in the gay union and Joan. This contrasts deeply with Bruce who is isolated except for when he engages in self-destructive behaviors. What saves Alison is her desire to grow beyond her father, and to acknowledge and accept one’s truth, something vital to the queer experience.