Anon

I'm 21 and a lesbian. I came all out about 4 months ago. Coming out for me was extremely difficult, I had always been interested in girls but never faced the truth. Eventually I met someone and things just fell right into place. I was on top of the world and finally felt like myself. The only problem was that I couldnt share my happiness with the people I loved. I was ashamed to be myself. And afraid of rejection and my friends distancing themselves from me. But I went all out and told my best friend, which then led to my parents, brothers, other friends. I am now closer to everyone. I have developed bonds with my friends and family that is stronger than its ever been. Go for it. Don't be afraid. If people decide they dont want to be your friend anymore they were never your friend in the first place. Life is entirely too short to stay hidden in a closet. Embrace life, and learn to love. I never knew love was such an amazing feeling until I let myself do it. Life is perfect.

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Greg

Hi, my name is Greg and I’m 20. I was around 14 when I realize that I’m gay. The first people that I told my news to was my closest friends in high school, they all accepted it very well, and almost forgot all of my closest friends in high school were girls, after I came out to them one of my friends came to me that she’s a lesbian. At every lunch hour we all talked about guys.
 
    The next group of people that I came out to was the football team and the coaches, I played high school football for 3 years. They all accepted my sexuality really good too and the football team liked the news because there is more homophobic people in the school than gay-friendly people, so the football team now has someone to protect at school. So shortly after I came out to my friends and my team mates, I came out to the entire school and people tried to “gay bash” me but it didn’t happened to me because of the football team had my back but no one really cares about my sexuality because people don’t want to mess with the football team. So I was well protected for the rest of my high school years.
 
    Now I’m working towards coming out to my parents.

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Wayne

The absolute WORST way to tell your parents that you're gay or bi is through anger. Nothing good can come of it. I learned this the hard way, unfortunately.

My parents and me were arguing about something (I honestly don't remember what it was), and it was kind of my way of getting at them by telling them. I was younger then, certainly more foolish. For the first month after I told them, my dad wouldn't talk to me, and my mom kept telling me to put my faith in God so that he'd fix me.

Accordingly, I stopped really communicating with my parents. I used to tell my mom everything, and me and my dad would talk about how our days went, just random stuff like that. After all of it stopped though, they eventually came and apologized to me for having treated me so badly about it.

This is what my mom told me: "We're old Wayne. This is a completely new concept for us. You're just going to have to give us time to accept it, is all. We love you very much, and don't ever doubt that."

So, in the end, it all worked out pretty well I'd say. 

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Makale

I am 21 and being a lesbian in the state of Utah is difficult. I was raised in a Mormon household. I have all sisters and I graduated with only 50 kids in my class. Lesbians were kind of unheard of in my small town. I was in denial almost the entire time I was in high school. I would find myself checking out girls, but I wouldn't admit to myself that I was doing that because I was attracted to them. It wasn't until I had my first love with a girl named Lindsey my freshman year in college that I knew I could be happy with accepting me. Since we broke up, I'm getting insecure again. BUT I am holding my head high and trying to be more out. My first big move is being the LGBT president on campus. When the college has a meeting with all the presidents from other clubs, I make sure I am the most classy, polite girl there.

I first came out to my sisters first when I was 18. They are all very supportive. My dad is sad because he thinks me being with a guy would be more beneficial, I haven't exactly said, "Dad I'm a lesbian" but he knows. My mom is sad because I don't think she wants people to know she has a gay daughter. They still love me, I am the same girl they raised, and I try to make them proud in other ways.

I think that sometimes the hardest thing is to accept yourself, but once you do, it will make you happier. I remind myself everyday that it is not wrong to love another human being. God put us on this earth to love, we should be proud we can love just as strong as anyone else, if not stronger.

Coming out to friends and family is a huge step. I feel it is good to make sure the timing is right. Even waiting til your out of the house and on your own, unless you feel it would be better for you to do it sooner. I just know that with me, coming out at the age that I did allowed my parents to have more excuses for it such as it was just a phase or I as doing it for attention. It has became lots better in the last three years. The dating here sucks though, but if I exist, then someone out there has to be similar. Keep your chin up!

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.

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Nathan

I am Nathan, 15, and Gay. I have known this since I was about 5 years old. I\'ve rejected the idea, my parents raise me to believe it was wrong and that it wasn\'t what god wanted. My parent\'s are Christian/Other parent\'s and I felt like I was trapped in my own home. I knew that there had been one other homosexual in my family, my aunt. I had some idea of to call her and ask her what her opinion she had of it. I decided not to. Instead I reached Junior High. In 7th I was still a bit confused and was trying to force myself to be straight, for my parents and family of course. I realized in 8th grade I wasn\'t really comfortable with the title \"Straight\" and so I thought..\"Maybe it\'s okay if I am bi?\"  I went by this for a few months, but realized it just wasn\'t going to happen, I then changed to gay. I had not told anyone, and no one expected it either. I am the typical \"football player\" body build, so no one even had the slightest idea I was gay. I then told my closest friend at the time, Miranda. She had been a very understand, accepting person about the matter. From that point on I was just gaining more an more confidence about the matter, and soon, my teachers and siblings knew, as well as all of my friends. I turned 15, and about 3 months after my birthday, I decided to tell my parents. They were by far, the people who took it the worst. I wasn\'t ready, and I wish I could have done it later. All I was thinking of when I did it was \"I am tired of living a lie, hopefully I will get some respect.\"  Wrong, everything went downhill. They treated me like an alien for almost a week, wouldn\'t let me talk to my friends, and then one night..my dad took my for a ride in the jeep. He told me he understand I could be confused, and that it is probably just peuberty. I was thinking in my mind \"No, I have known for years.\" I didn\'t say it of course though ha! My parents are giving me my respect now though, not saying the hurtfull comments they were saying before. I am now openly gay, to all. My school knows, as well as my friends, parents, etc. I now help my friends who are confused come to realize who they really are :)

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Peter

Hello my name is Peter. I am 25 years old and i love in Marietta, Ga with my parents and brother. When I was a young boy about ten years old. I had a friend named Johnny. He was 15 and very handsome. One day while we were riding our bikes around the street of my neighborhood in NY I told him that i liked him. He stopped for a minute ran over to me and asked me what I said. I told him again \"I like you Johnny\". He said why are you telling me this? I said because your my best friend your a good friend. He said well if you shout stuff out like that they are going to call the cops on you for acting like a weirdo. So after that he moved away. 5 years later I met a girl named Jessika. She became my best friend too. We began to date and everything was nice. Until she told me that we cant see eachother anymore,I\'m sorry but we can still be friends? That killed me inside. the one girl i loved with all my heart broke up with me. I asked her how come we\'re breaking up she said. We\'re breaking up because I see you looking at other guys. If you want to tell me something just say it. I said I think they are good looking that doesnt prove anything. After me and my gf broke up I started to take a closer look at guys. Some of them looked great but were total jerks. Others were okay looking and the sweetest guys ever. So I started a Myspace.com account when I was 18 and I got a response from a really nice cute black guy. so we started talking and i felt a rush come over me as if to say its ok your doing nothing wrong. So I met him in person after i got my Driver\'s Licence and said \"Id like to take you out to dinner. I was so happy being with him that I just kissed him on his lips. Later that month I came out to my dad. I told him that i went on a date with a great guy and he said that if hes such a great guy live with him because i dont want that werid S*** in my house! Leave and dont come back. So i had a few friends who i could stay with at the time. Later i got a call from my mom telling me i talked to your father and hes still upset but come home you know i\'ll always love you. so i came back home and my mom gave me a hug and a kiss and said I love you and i accept you for you. a few years later my dad gave me a hug and said i accept you for you too. and that was a few days like 3 days before christmas. it was scary and also really happy for me coming out to the world.

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Melissa

I grew up in a household where religion is a major factor.  Religion is what guides my entire family and keeps us together.  Within this religion, homosexuality is out of the question.  I love to worship God and to do the right thing.  My "problem" started when I realized about a year ago that I was more attracted to women than to men.  Although I still feel an attraction for both, the one I have for women is much stronger.  I have fallen for two very wonderful and beautiful girls and was going through an internal struggle of epic proportions.  I wanted to put God first and to do the right thing but I couldn't hide my feelings.  

This last week end I decided to come out even with the fear that my father would be raging and my mother would be weeping, I went ahead and gave it a chance.  Their reaction?

They both told me that it is common to feel that way.  They said that it was alright.  They completely understood me.  That gave me the necessary push to come out to my best friend and a few other very close friends and they all reacted beautifully even with the taboo and social stigma attached to being bisexual.  I admit this is one of the most difficult things I have had to do in my life but coming out with it helps in many ways.  You learn how to identify yourself and to be happy with who you are.  It is true that the religious thing will always be a struggle but just know that during there hard times is when you need your friends and family the most.  Don't give up and always keep strong.  Keep your head held high.  Hey, you are human.  Be proud

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Edi

hi my name is edgar i live in caliornia. well for me it was hard coming out. iam 20 right now i came out last year with all my friends and just recently with my mom. you see the thing that for me was the hardest thing to do was accepting the fact that i was gay, yet it seemed so hard because i wanted to be normal like all the others but as time went on i graduated high school and i can say it was the most painful time in my life. i still culdnt manage to accept. it wasnt until i begun working that i saw an old friend he asked me if i wanted to go out dancing i said why not so when they picked me up to my surprise he told me he was gay aswell as his cousin in the back seat. he told me that we were going to a gay club. i was astonished and honestly a little embarresed. he asked me when we got off the car if i was gay because he said he had that vibe that i was. so still not accepting i said iam bi which to me was a big step though i lied. as that night went along i see from across the dance floor my manager and he comes over to say hi. i was embarressed as scared, yet he came to me as if i was just as normal as he was. he said he was here with his friend and because they know the dj. well as time went on i was sort of accepting that i was gay. then one night at work one o my cowrkers asks me in front of everyone if i was gay since our conversation lead to that question. i was on the spotligh and i feared the rejection but inside me somthing told me just to blur it out, but all that came out was no comment. i guess that was enough to really say i was. i finally accpeted it when those words were out and as then this huge pressure was off i wasnt going to hide it anymore i was what i was and for those who like it thank you. well i finally told everyone at work that i was gay. for my surprise they accepted me and cared for me a lot more. though i was out to everyone after that my family didnt know yet, so i had to take the huge risk of doing it. i told my brother  which was 14 at the time. he told me that my life was my life not to worry that he would love me no matter what. then it was in august of this year that i took my mom out to breakfeast and i came out. her smile is still burned inside my mind her words of kindness caressed my aching thouts. she said no matter what comes upon us you will alwyas be my son and this diening love for you will always remain strong and the same. the whole point of this story isnt to bore you its for you to understand that indeed your friends will always be there for you they will always accept you if they care for you. but your familiy is somthing that you always end up back to. no matter if you try to hide it or if you try to move away there presence and there roots will follow you till the end. though i didnt have such a hard time like many did. i still have my dads rejection, but no matter what he says or what he does he will always be my father in blood.   

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Mark

I'm Mark, 16 and im gay. I live in probably one of the most homophobic cities in England, and life was hard for several years. I remember being around 10 and having a crush on a certain boy in my class, but ignoring it and thinking all boys were feeling the same. It was only when i went into year 7 that I started to noticed it more, mainly because i went to an all boys school. I was in form class for half an hour every day with boys a lot older than me, some 16 years old. They would say things to make like queer fag etc, all the typical ones.

    I didn't really know what it meant at this point, but i thought it was bad because everyone around me was so negative towards it. I remember one time, i was 13, and i kinda fancied my cousins boyfriend, and tried my best to avoid any kind of sexual fantasy about him. It was when i was 13 that i really tried not to be gay, and to just be what everyone else considered normal. This, of course didnt work. I tried everything any one in my situation would, lesbian porn, magazines, forcing myself to like girls. But nothing changed. It was only when i was around 14 that i accepted it. It was in the shower, I just started crying one day and saying to myself 'I'm gay'. I had finally came out to myself.
  In school I hung around with the typical gays, the ones who accepted me and were my best friends and supported me. One day one of my friends came out to me and told me he was bi, over msn, which in my view is one of the best ways to come out. It was about february 2008, and it was the day i realised that my friends were my world, and I could pretty much rely on them for anything, and they could rely on me. I wasnt out at this point, but after he'd told all of us he was bi, and everyone was absolutely fine with it, another friends also came out was bi. So after about a week of thinking it over, i was on msn one night (around 2am) and decided i was gunna do it.

  I told the person i considered to be my closest friend at that point, i told him that i wasnt straight, and that i wanted to tell him in person, but he refused to leave msn until i told him. So i just said it to him 'Im gay' and it was absolutely fine, then he told another of my friends, minutes later, and he popped up to me also, saying how fine he was with it. Then eventually all my friends found out, it was fine, i was too happy. Coming out to my friends was probably one of the best experiences of my life. I could be me, and they would know the reason.

  Up to now i havn't came out to my family, and dont intend to because they are all narrow minded homophobes, although they all assume i am, my parents have always avoided the topic. My plan is to move away to university and see as little of them as possible.
So thats basically my story, if you think you want to come out, come out to your close friends first, they will be there for you if they are true friends. :]

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Alex

im 16 and i came out to one of my good friends 3 days ago. i had no intention of coming out to anyone ever, i just didnt want to deal with what would happen if i did. so me and my friend were just hanging out and talking and somehow it got to the point were i admited i liked someone. she went crazy because thats the first time i had ever admitted to her that i liked someone. she then started to interigate me trying to figure out who it was. i told her that i wasnt going to tell her because that would mean i would have to tell her im a lesbian. then she said that shed tell me who she liked if i told her who i liked but i declined because i was scared of what she would think if i told her i liked girls and not guys. but she kept egging me on to tell her so i finally did and it was the scariest thing i have ever done in my whole life. right when i told her that i didnt like guys i told her not to freak out. she said she wasnt freaked out but i didnt believe her because their was no way she could be that ok with me being gay. she said that she wasnt freaked out at all and she thought it was cool and she genuinely did. she also said she was so freakin happy i told her and thought it was so awesome. she was so ok with it and it didnt change our friendship at all it made us alot stronger im very glad i told her because now i have someone to talk to about all my girl troubles. telling her also made me accept myself more and i actually want to tell more of my friends now.

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Meaghan

My name is meaghan, Im 13 and im bi. I havent came out yet, mostly because im afraid to tell my dad. He has always thought it was weird to be gay,lesbian,or bi. I did to along time ago. I never would have thought i would be bi. But i am. I have dated guys and they are still sexually apealing to me, but so are girls.  And then one night i was at my best friends house for a sleepover all the other girls slept in her living room and we slept in her bed (which was realy small). She asked if i wanted to experiment with her and I said sure. We touched each other and started kissing. It just felt like it was right. Neither mine or her parents know that we are bi. we still go to each others houses and make out when we are sure no one is gonna walk into our rooms. Im still afraid to tell my family cause i know they wont think im serious at first and when they know im serious i know they will still love me but my dad would be shocked and dissapointed. I guess what im trying to say is if your scared, talk to the person you think will understand the most ( some adult who is straight). Even if you think your parents might be dissapointed you should do what makes you happy. Live your life the way you want to.

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Alex

Frankly speaking, life is not an easy stream for individuals having a different sexual orientation. I have experienced the inconveniences, the rejection and the atrocities of the so-called straight guys who always like to show their superiority and arrogance over the weak ones. Actually these guys think that they are well accepted in the society and are not among the minorities, so they can do whatever they want without being judged or criticized for their wrong actions.

I was 12 years old when i was admitted for the first time in a private secondary boys college. That day i felt lonely, as i usually frequented girls in a mixed primary school. Everything went on smoothly the first day, until i met Pedro who discovered my girlish behavior and shared it with other classmates. From that day all the students of my class started treating me as a "Pufter" and named me " Maggy". Fortunately i had two friends, in the same class who were gay and supported me emotionally, but they were even being mentally and physically tortured by the naughty college boys. Slowly the rumors came out from one class to another. They used to throw bottles caps on us, treat us as aliens and told the teachers about our homosexuality. I admit it was not that easy to bear their attitudes towards us. Nevetheless, i mustered courage, managed and stuggled to pass my exams and eventually got out from that troublesome adolescence world to a professional one, where i met a guy whose name is Santiago.

He appreciated me, for what i am and give me lots of love and affection. It was not an easy adventure, but with patience and courage, we certainly achieve higher grounds. My message to all the gays, is that one must not discourage and bother about what others think about you, but, one must live his life freely without fearing about the others. Certainly your future will be brighter and maybe lots of opportunities and possibilities will come out. "We are not born gays, but it's the society who treat us as gays". We have our rights like any human being and we have to fight.

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Rod

Hi, Im Rod, I'm 15 and I'm gay... Nobody knows this, not even my closest friends or my sis.(i think my sis haves a clue!)

My parents are pretty conservative so I'm soooo scared to tell them. The other day i was talking to my girl BFF about what we think about gay marriage and stuff and se said that it was normal,that if people was happy, she was happy. My two boys BFF said that they hated gay people because that's not normal. So i was thinking what would happen if i came out!!!

I don't cry, i never cry. I just get mad about every stupid thing! I know it has something to do with me lying to everyone... Sometimes i even lie to myself, and that it's what really upsets me! I need some help, i don't know what to do!

Im soo scared of what my parents, friends, everyone think about it! I know that the important thing is to be sincere to myself but if i tell them i don't know how they'll react!

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Niol

Hi, I just want to share a story or maybe a lesson to those who are gay and shamed of being one or maybe just too scared in accepting who they are. I am not gay but I don't discriminate gays or lesbians. I am also catholic but totally disagree about the church's view about gays and lesbians.

As a child I was exposed on two sides of the gay environment; the good gay and the bad gay or let me say the good human being and the bad human being. My Uncles from my mother side and father side were gays. One was very expressive and polite at the same time, he also have a partner during his college years. I love Uncle Vince he even told his friends and partner to respect me as his nephew. At the same situation I also have an Uncle from my father side Fredo, who is the opposite of Uncle Vince and unfortunately the bastard molested me. He should be thrown to jail for what he did but he finaly paid for what he did and pass away with a heart attack.

Fast forward my story to our present time 2009, last March during a generator maintenance for my company's server farm. A ask a gentleman who is around his 30's, well built and very neat, I ask him about the equal yellow sign symbol with the blue background and he was somewhat surprised, scared and paused before he answered. His response was "O, nothing really, that's just an equality symbol." I did not ask him further about what kind of equaity it is, for he turned his back on me.

Today I just realized that this is a gay and lesbian equality symbol. This is sad, even if he knows someone who is gay or even if he is gay, I totally believe that he should be proud of who he is. It also touched me and almost made me cry to realize that gays and lesbian will never win this battle if those who support or actual gays or lesbians are not proud of who they are. If a gay is being beat up or being harassed then I will jump in the defend him/her even if it means my life. For those of you who are still ashamed of who you are, do not allow me to waste mylife and rescue you if you face the shame of accepting who you are.   

It is through gays that I can smile or laugh my heart out, yes, I am a straight individual and married to my wife but it doesn't mean that I don't support gays and lesbian. Keep up the fight and be proud of who you are!!!!

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I am me.

Experiencing life like anyone else as I grew up, I saw movies, read books, and heard stories about love. The typical, Boy meets girl, falls in love at first sight, grow up together, and marry, have kids, then die together all made sense to everone else. But not me. Even at a young age I could never picture myself with a girl. Nonetheless fall in love with one. I just came to a conclusion in my head that I was young and was uneducated in the subject. When I was 14 years old, I realized that yes, in fact, I was attracted to boys. But ashamed of myself, I made sure that every move i made, every step i took, every comment i made, facial expression, head nod.. everything, looked masculant and confident. Many nights of crying myself to sleep thinking out the scenario of telling my parents of my choices and them disaproving finally took its toll. I couldn't take it anymore. I had to be accepted for who I was because I felt fake. It was ruining me. So finally at age 17, I did what I thought was impossible: I told my family and friends that I was gay. I'd like to say that it turned out like a movie where all the scary situations of coming clean that i'd played out in my head were false and everything went great. But i' be lying. I won't go into detail, but it was the disaproval of my dad that anchored down my confidence and self approval. That was the past. Now, I am 20 years old and enjoying life to the fullest. My dad and I are better than ever. And everyone accepts me for who I am. And that means everything to me! It really does. But. I learned something important: You cannot, CANNOT live life being happy without accepting yourself first. I learned that first hand. I accept myself for who I am. I am gay. I am different. I am happy. But most importantly: I am me.

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