I'll be joining this, of course. I'm gay, y'all & I'm the president of my university's Gay/Straight Alliance.
What got you into supporting gay rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?
Being gay and not having my voice heard/represented. I can't exactly say who my inspiration was. It's quite a conglomeration of people.
Have you come out of the closet? If so, and if you feel comfortable enough here in this safe space, share your coming out story with us. How did your parents/friends take it? Describe the scenario.
Yes, I have.
The first idea that my parents had I was gay was when I was thirteen and wrote about it in a spiral. They told me it was just a phase, and I was too young to be certain.
Time went on, and things would happen, but they'd continually say it was a phase.
I got my first boyfriend in the fall of my senior year of high school [around November 2009], and well . . . due to them finding
something (;]) on my computer, I blurted out to my mom, "Well this makes it easier for me to tell you: I have a boyfriend."
We didn't talk about it much until the summer of 2010, when I entered my next relationship. There was a lot of crying on both ends, but yeah. She told me she still loved me.
My mom told my dad at my request in December of 2010. He was really upset at first, but by the end of the month . . i actually brought my boyfriend home from college during the week of New Year's and they met him.
After certain recent events in my life [early april 2011] [which effected my activity on PC, which is why
remaking the group wasn't my number one priority], my parents and I have actually gotten a lot closer. My dad and I had a rather long conversation about me being gay, and yeah. He's pretty much okay with it. He just thinks flaunting it everywhere is tacky - and I agree. I'm not going to shove my sexuality down anyone's throat. I'm the same person I've always been, I just like guys.
Regardless, my parents, over time, have come to accept it, and yeah. while it took a few years, it happened. :]
With my friends . . . well it was awkward.
When I told my closest friend [at the time], she thought I was asking her out. Needless to say, we weren't very close afterwards. She later told me that she prayed for me to change back. [we've hence made up, though]
Most of my other friends were pretty okay with it. I either told them, or they found out because I was dating this guy who went to school with us. It was actually kinda funny - even the teachers were talking about us XD;
I advocate passively being out rather than actively coming out. Heterosexuals don't have to come out, so why should others? It draws unnecessary attention to the situation and reinforces the idea that it's so different that one felt the need to announce it.
I agree, to an extent. However, the fact of the matter is that we still live in a hetero-normative society where most people are assumed to be straight. I know if I didn't come out to my parents, life would be absurdly weird, and awkward.
Have you ever been "gay bashed" or know anybody that has? What tips would you give to others to avoid that or to defend yourself.
Bashed? Not particularly. I've been called fag, and whatnot, but other than that, nothing physical occurred.
and, yeah.
hi.