Lies of omission are still lies, whether you allow someone else to lie for you, or do it yourself, you are still making the choice to deceive.
We all know why it’s easier to let someone think you aren’t what you are. But ask yourself this, what kind of friendship can you have if he’s honest with you, but you’re not honest with him?
The longer you go, letting someone think you’re something you’re not, the bigger the deception gets, the harder it is to own up, the issue just grows and grows. You might be worried that he’s going to dislike you for being gay, but he’ll dislike you more for being gay and a liar if he’s a phobe, and you’ll just confirm a phobe’s bigotry if you pursue that course, you’ll just give him ammunition to think you’re deceptive and underhanded.
If he’s not, telling him now, or telling him later isn’t going to matter – except to you, and the issue will still get more difficult in your head no matter what. You’re not a friend to him if you assume he’s going to be a bigot, you’re not true to yourself if you let fear create deception.
You haven’t seen this guy in a long time – some pretty significant years, so you don’t really know this guy anymore, he doesn’t really know you. Already you’re worried about the lies you told when you were kids, do you really think that you can go back to that with this guy and be OK with yourself?
Do you want to go back to living a lie just because you’re afraid of someone that hasn’t been a part of your life in years?
We all have to answer that question when we get into your situation. So answer that in a way that will make you feel better about yourself. Being out isn’t about this guy, it isn’t about what the haters think, or what the non-haters think, it’s between you and your self respect.
There are plenty of people who will justify the closet by saying it doesn’t matter if someone else knows, and as far as that goes it sounds innocuous, but it emphatically matters that you believe in yourself enough to be who you are without apologies, without lying. Your honesty is between you and yourself – and it also matters that you respect your friends enough to stop trying to deceive them.
The closet is a lie. That’s what it is. It’s not privacy, it’s not honesty, it’s not natural. We all know how we end up there, we all know why people stay there, we all know how difficult being out can be, but in the end we all have to decide whether we’re going to let fear dictate the course of our lives or not - and in the end, it will be far easier to do this now, than it will be down the road.