What encouraged you to come out?

[refujiunderground]

being that i'm still in the closet to those around me and am pretty much on my way to accepting that i'm gay. i would say that me coming out the closet is me just revealing myself a bit more to people. i already talk about my personal issues and shit but this is something that i haven't been able to express out in the open yet. one day, maybe next year, i hope to get to tell people that i like men, i don't like women like that and that i am proud of being gay.

but right now, i'm just taking everything in. there's moments where i still am in disbelief and in denial but then i realize that the situation is what it is. no need to beat around the bush and lie to myself and others about what i'm not. fuck it, it would be good to give my family the biggest christmas gift ever to tell them that i'm gay but being that my family are a bunch of jamaicans and jamaicans are homophobes to the if degree, it's going to take a lot of guts to do that and my gut isn't strong enough right now.

 

[pai mei]

an online friend helped me confront it in myself by allowing me a venue to talk about boys, even if we were both semi-joking all the time.

after i admitted it to myself and him, after that it only took maybe two months before i started coming out, and i guess the reason i did come out to people irl was because within those 2 months it became unbearable to be anything else other than honest, and it began to dominate my thoughts to the point where i couldnt even go out drinking/bars etc without it being on my mind.

one night at the club someone mentioned the girls on the dance floor, i wasnt in the mood to play the 'pretend im straight' game in the slightest anymore and i said none of them were hot. then a friend was like 'what?!? this guy's gay' and i just thought... i cant live like this anymore.

hence i began my coming out process the following day.

 

[scream4ever]

Upon graduating high school. I came out as bisexual, then gay to select people, and finally completely gay to everyone but my parents after the passage of Prop 8. I guess I should thank gay marriage opponents for that one!

I finally came out to my parents after I was at a local night club with some friends and began dancing with a girl (not sexually just for fun). I told her I was gay so as to not expect anything (those probably weren't my exact words but whatever). She just said it was cool. That night I called my dad and left him a message in which I came out fully. I was drunk so I was a bit more emotional then I really felt! They next day he called me and said it was all okay.

Looking back I for sure would've come out towards the end of my senior year of high school. Coming out is IMO sort of like getting your driver's license. It gives you so much freedom, and after no time at all it becomes hard to remember back to what it was like beforehand.

 

[scream4ever]

Circumstances made it easy for me. I have autism so the stuff that goes with that for me lessened my burden (read quote below). On top of that I grew up with two mothers. I knew there would be issues with some people, but didn’t care what any of them thought.






As for how I came out the first time. . .

OMG Thynight I have Aspergers and I agree with all of what you said. I found it really could help me mask being gay because if I did something that was "odd" I could just chock it up to that.

 

[Ninja108]

The fact I felt I couldn't keep who I was a secret anymore from my family and friends.
Turns out they knew before I did.

 

[mark73]

OK well I am pretty sure I have never "come out"

Everytime anyone has asked me I have just told them the truth.

The first person I cam out to I was 13 and he was ( and still is mybest friend ).

In school in the UK all I ever got asked was "was I queer" to which I would say yes I think so. And things were left there. ( although no one ever wanted to be near me in the changeing rooms after PE. )

I came out to my mum and dad at age 16 my mum just hugged me and said nothing has changed, and my dad didn't speak to me for 4 years ( for those of you that don't know me he is ex-UK navy and wouldn't accept me untill my younger brother had his accident and it became evident I was the only person he would relate to ) and then for the sake of Ashton it became a need to have something to do with me.
We are on OK ground now ( have had the whole family here for Xmas ) But again that is mostly because I am now responsible for my brother.

Mark
XXXX

 

[Ultraviolet]

So, I was 22 when I went abroad for work. I met a very cute, intelligent, kind and funny Texan guy. I got on well with him and couldn't find any good reason to not come out to him. We had some fun and got into some trouble.

Afterwards, we went our separate ways. As I intended on travelling, he said point blank: 'come out, you'll be fine, you'll enjoy your trip more'. So I did, to my friend, the following day.

My meeting him changed everything. Mainly because I had a glimpse of the kind of happiness that I was depriving myself of and didn't want to do that anymore.

I'll be always indebted to him. Now, I know that not all of us can depend on this sort of kindness from strangers, it was, luckily for me, the encouragement I needed to come out.