Came out to my college class today. . .

[Kyanimal]

It's a Big Lesson for "Us", too, Matt!

Again ... THANK YOU! for sharing this!

Keep smilin'!!
Chaz

 

[saymyname]

Thanks for sharing that with us Killjoke. That was fantastic ! Brilliant, in fact.

Bankside wrote :
I must say I regret hearing you told people that you would never have chosen being gay.

I agree with Elvin on this one. Perhaps the students will see from Killjoke saying this :
a) The honesty.
b) That being gay is not a choice.
c) The struggle that many gay guys have in accepting who they are.

There will probably be students at the school who are struggling with who they are and telling themselves that they aren't one of those homos. It's all very well and good and touchy-feely to tell them that coming out as a gay man is such fun, but that's not always the case, is it ? It's not much fun at all, for some guys. It is much easier to be like your friends and conform. You can be honest about this, but still have pride !

Being gay is not a handicap... it shouldn't be discussed as one.

 

[StlKj]

Being gay is not a handicap... it shouldn't be discussed as one.

Again, you are exactly right. The handicap is not being gay--the handicap exists in a society that tries to make gay people feel that it is. And the handicap is in the way one deals with the unique challenges of being gay in such a society. For a large part of my life, I didn't want to be this way, and I denied myself pursuing love, pleasure and self actualization out of fear and self-loathing. I've come a long way since those days, but I still have growth to achieve. I'm the first to point out to my class any hypocrisy I exhibit, as I did today when we covered budgeting and I told them about my own money management issues.

I want people to understand it's not a choice, and I want them to know it's not something that was easy to deal with. It's been a struggle much of my life, and a large part of that struggle was due to how others judge you and treat you less than. But I ended saying that I love myself and accept myself so much more now. Again, one can only speak one's truth as one experiences it. It was honesty that touched them and made it powerful to many of them. They understood that I saw the flaw not as being it, but as not LIVING it.