How did you know you were ready to come out?
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When I got my first lover.
The idea of pretending he and I were not lovers was too terrible for me, well more terrible than playing the hiding game. Not that I was actually hiding beforehand, I was more or less so deep in denial that I couldn't see who and what I was to actually act or be "gay".
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I never had a choice. My behavior (crushing on boys, etc) was evident from a very young age, and my father thought humiliation would work to "change my mind on things" so he made sure EVERYONE knew (in whatever most embarrassing and "shameful" ways he could) what those preferences were.
Thus, I was "out" long before puberty.
Fortunately, I'm apparently not "wired" to shame and humiliation... or maybe I was just too rebellious to take his disapproval to heart? Either way, I never hid who I was or what my preferences were.
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I was 17, I was madly in love and wanted the world to know.
I was so scared.. so I wrote a letter and posted it to my Mum, so I couldn't chicken out!
All Mum said was 'You really think I didn't know, idiot'!
Dad came in from work, sat down, looked at me and said 'Oh here he is, fairy fufu' and never mentioned it again!
Telling them changed absolutely nothing, yet to me it changed everything.. for the better.
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