Although yonkey was not founded until the Spring of 2004, the seeds of inspiration were planted decades before in a small, queer boy from a part of California that has recently come to be called the O.C. That's right, Orange County…home to In-and-Out Burger, No Doubt and a borg-like concentration of rich, white, homophobic conservatives. Now, anybody who grew up queer behind the Orange Curtain knows that the only way to survive is to keep your mouth shut, your head down and your heart full of hopes of life in the big city…and that's exactly what I did. Fast forward several years and we find our hero a recently out, loud & proud queer in San Diego. Admittedly, it's not as impressive a metropolis as, say, your Los Angeleses or your New Yorks, but there's more than one movie theater and an actual queer neighborhood, so we're impressed all the same. Anyway, it was during this time that I took a fateful roadtrip with my first and favorite faghag, Deborah, to the queer mecca for a small-town SoCal boy, such as myself…West Hollywood (aka WeHo…a.k.a Boys' Town). It was there that we came across Don't Panic, a purveyor of fine, politically-charged activewear for the young (or young at heart) queer or queer-friendly radical. Happily clad in our simple, black-on-white "NOBODY KNOWS I'M A DYKE" and "NOBODY KNOWS I'M A FAGGOT" t-shirts, we headed back to college, content in the knowledge that we would soon be causing a panic on our sleepy, little college campus. That was my first exposure to t-shirts that said something…I mean really said something. Okay, "FRANKIE SAYS RELAX" and "CHOOSE LIFE" were both really good tries, but did we really know what the hell they meant? Our new shirts were in-your-face. They spoke volumes without uttering a single word. From there, it progressed to prints of the famous "READ MY LIPS" slogan complete with photo of two sailors smooching, "BOY CRAZY" and "I LOVE ORAL SEX". I don't know if my fascination with them is just that they're controversial. It could have to do, too, with having spent my entire childhood being told what to wear; maybe I just get off, as an adult, hearing "You can't wear that!" and doing it, anyway. Or maybe that little boy growing up in Orange County is finally having his say, proclaiming from the mountaintops (well, the streets of Manhattan, anyway) how he truly feels, once and for all. Or maybe I just like avoiding being searched by airport security guards who are afraid to touch a guy wearing an "I KISS BOYS" t-shirt and getting extra drinks on the plane from flight attendants who like the same. Who's to say? What I do know is that, for years now, I've been thinking of things that I would really like to see on a t-shirt and saying, "Dude," (I am from Southern California, remember), "I should start a t-shirt company." Then, after I'd said that, like, a thousand times, several of my friends were, like, "Duuuuude," (some of them are from SoCal, too), "You totally should." Granted, they were just trying to get me to shut up and didn't think I'd ever really do it but, to their credit, they've been very supportive and I couldn't done it without them. So, how about a quick shout out to my homies?     >>PAM MIKLASKI: One of the founders of toughtitties, a former co-worker and somebody I'd like to be, when I grow up. Pam is one of the few people who I have never seen angry, frustrated or rude. It's not to say that she doesn't experience those emotions, but I've never seen them and that's truly amazing given the awesome number of inane coding questions I threw her way in the span of a few short years. Intelligent, witty, beautiful, kind and talented, Pam is and always will be an inspiration. I am fortunate to have met her. >>SHARILYN NEIDHARDT: My older sister has done everything before me—driver's license, same-sex romance, university and business ownership—but without her constant support and encouragement, she may have been the only one to have done those things. Sharilyn is an artist in every sense of the word, but I think her greatest talent is recognizing and nuturing the artist in everybody she meets. She believes that art is within each of us and that the search for it more than justifies the occasional wrong note, shoddy technique and/or misturned phrase. >>HELEN LIMM: I've known Helen for twenty-eight years which, in spite of the fact that we met at age five, makes me feel really, really old. Fortunately, having her in my life keeps me eternally young. Helen is my history. She has known me longer and more intimately than anybody else on the planet and that makes her very special to me. Even more comforting than knowing that she's always been there, however, is knowing that she always will be. She is the Grace to my Will, the Ethel to my Lucy and the Shirley to my Laverne. >>ANTONIO CUEVAS: Having attended the same university, worked a block away from one another in San Diego, belonged to the same gym and worked in the same building in San Francisco, it is truly amazing that we met on the subway, but I take that as a sign of destiny. Antonio is one of the few people, since univeristy, to have been able to penetrate the inner-circle of friendship, blending quietly in to the point that he is nearly indistinguishable from childhood friends, sisters and ceramic chihuahuas. This is the second (website) birth that Antonio has midwifed and his advice has proven invaluable. >>LOUIS GUZMAN: Louis has the unusual distinction of having unwittingly named my company a decade before I even conceived of it. I give Louis a lot of shit for having been a lousy boyfriend, at times, but the truth is that I owe him a lot more than my URL. Though it didn't officially take effect until years after our romance ended, we all owe Louie a debt of gratitude for having removed a huge stick from my ass—yes, that's right, I used to be even more uptight than I am, now. I still can't think of how he tries to order every dog he passes to "Do a backflip!" or how he used to order me to "Go ni-night!" when I wouldn't shut up in bed, without smiling. >>NATALIE FIGUERIDO: Natalie is the type of person that every aspiring t-shirt mogul and international superstar should have in their life. Not only is she a world-class motivator and source of encouragement but, and this is the really the good part, she's doesn't just blow smoke up your ass. Snat has the skills that pay the bills and, if I may be so bold, a nice amount of junk in her trunk. Y'all just better watch out for the day she decides to turn that Midas touch on herself because that's when it's really gon' be on. >>MYA MARQUIS: I met Mya at my very first temp job, in New York City. Surrounded, as she was, by button-down pharmaceutical types, she stood out like…well, like a sassy queerboy surrounded by a bunch of button-down pharmaceutical types. Needless to say, we became fast friends. Since then, I have discovered her to be strong, sexy, intelligent, powerful, sensitive, compassionate, wise and funny. She's one of the most open people I know, to both new experiences and other people. Throughout this process, she has been nothing but encouraging and helpful, and for that I am very grateful. >>YOUR NAME HERE: To those of you not called out by name, please know that it has less to do with my sincere appreciation of the love and support you have shown me and more to do with my concern that my customers are getting bored with these seemingly endless shouts out and want to get back to the spellbinding story of the birth of yonkey. Suffice to say that your contributions of time and talent, as well as your encouragement, have made starting my own business some good, clean fun. So, given all that "boy with a dream" schmaltz at the beginning of this tale, it seems only fitting that yonkey would stand for something more than just stylish shirts that will get you noticed and expand the consciousness of those around you at affordable prices. That's why a portion's of yonkey's earnings go back into the community to support, educate and encourage queer youth. It's my hope that the current and future generations of queer boys and girls growing up behind the Orange Curtain, or anywhere, find their voices earlier and earlier.