How Does It Feel To Come Out?

Terrifying. Pivotal. Liberating.

Music:
"Departure" by Exist Strategy

Big thanks to Brittany, Andrew, Josiah, Renae, Noah, Brian, and Cameron for sharing their stories

[juliekristine]

"at least drugs can be fixed" - killed me

[ughbandit]

"at least drugs can be fixed"

that broke my heart

[jellyrei]

i came out to my friend in a bubble tea place, and i started crying after i said i was bi, since it took me a lot of courage to say it out loud. AND THEN SHE TOLD ME THAT SHE WAS BI TOO LMAO I WAS SO SHOOK

[kalegirouard]

"well aren't you happy I'm not on drugs?"

"well at least drugs can be fixed."

😢😢😢😭😭😭😭😭😭

[MewChocolateLuvHeart]

I'm trying to change the way I ask the question, "Are you in a relationship?" Nowadays, instead of asking "Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend?" I'm trying to change it to, "Are you in a relationship?". If they yes, "What's _their_ name?" I'm straight, and if I decide to have children one day, I want to be the best damn supportive mother ever. If he/she comes out to me, I want to be like, *"I'M SO PROUD!!!"* and throw rainbow confetti everywhere (and I'll try to convince/make my husband do it, too. XDDD)
Before I have children, I need to buy rainbow confetti. Need to be prepared. ^^

[keira]

My friend and I had these two notecards. We wrote down our biggest secrets and we couldn't read them until after school, then we would have time to think about our friendship. I came out to her as bi on my notecard, and she came out as pan. We're about to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. :)

[laurenpullan]

Told my mum I'm bi. She hit me with "At your age, you like everyone"



Thanks, Mum

[thepurplenarwhal]

I came out to my dad as trans and he was like, "Finally I have a son!" "Do you want my ties?"

[alexr.]

"Well atleast drugs can be fixed!"

That hit me hard. We are not broken nor is there something wrong with us. We did not choose this, we were born like this. Life would be a lot easier if we can just stop being like this and suddenly be straight. It would save us from all the dirty looks, the insults, the discrimination that we get every single day. And how a mother can say that to her child is beyond me. It scares me to come out mine. And every day I try to gather up courage from every inch of my body and just tell her. But I can't do it because I'm afraid of what she will think of me. And it's frightening because I know I will not get a good response. And I don't think I will ever come out to my extremely religious parents.

[NLvinvin]

i came out to my parents about a week ago, and my mom was like: "oh okay, now shut up, CSI is on"

[camic]

My story:
I called a family meeting. I sat on the couch extremely nervous and feeling sick and trying to get my words out properly while my parents looked on worriedly.
Mom: "what's so hard about whatever you're trying to tell us? Just say what you need to say?"
Me: "I-I'm..."
Mom: "Are you pregnant?"
Me: *deep breath*
Me: I'm not pregnant because I have a girlfriend because I'm gay.
Dad: "oh. well that's not as bad as I was expecting. Why was that so hard? You know we support that stuff."
And it was all amazing from there. I just want all closeted people to know that not every coming out story is a horror story and you may be blessed with accepting and logical parents like mine.

[emmailikedogs]

I'm coming out later today to my family and stuff like this is really helping me so thank you so much, even though I know no one will read this post. But really, thank you.

[Juleslovesfriends]

It breaks my heart when Gay, Lesbian, or BI or any other sexuality are hated on because of what type of gender they like. What type of world do we live in??

[danterodriguez]

it hurt. it was like ripping off a bandaid. and i wasn't accepted. my mom and dad shoved me back into the closet and told me that i wasn't allowed to be a boy. i didn't get to tell them my name. i didn't get to tell them that i'm gonna marry a boy one day. and they won't be invited to my big happy unless they learn to accept that they have two sons now.

[SabrinaMin]

So i had a terrible anxiety attack at school, and one of my friends (male) was sick, so the teachers took us to nursing, and he asked me what happened, because i was okay until i started to get anxious, so while i was crying i started to think, and said "Do you think keeping something inside you would be a reason to get an anxiety attack?" and he asked "Are you hiding something?" So i was shaking so bad and i just told him "I have a girlfriend, but my family doesn't know"He was so nice about it, later he told me he was sexually abused when he was Young, but he isn't gay...I haven't told my family i'm bi, because i'm really scared...

[salmasalhi]

I'm looking through the comments and there are so many people who have talked about how scared they've been to come out. I'm so sorry that our society is still incredibly unaccepting. People are ridiculous. I hope that in the future the rest of us can finally learn to accept and celebrate diversity. Be proud of who you are.

[ShanissaWTK]

Around 1, 5 years ago, my boyfriend broke up with me, and my mum and I were talking about it in the car. (I was almost 17 at the time)

Mum: ''I'm tired of men, I wish I was a lesbian.''
Me: ''Well, I like both boys and girls.''
Mum: ''Congratulations, please marry a woman.''

I always knew that my mother was accepting of gay people, but I was still afraid to come out to her because I'm her daughter, and that's different. I never thought it would be this easy.

[ferncat]

I'm always super lesbian at 1 am, watching all the lgbtq+ videos and I'm all set come out of the closet but that confidence vanishes in the morning like a gay Cinderella D:

[roop]

is it bad that all i did was say 'hey mom, i'm bi. can we get some panera?' and she said 'yeah, grab my wallet' and that was that. nobody questioned it, nobody disapproved it, it was just there. and that's the best thing i have ever hoped for

[alo]

"at least drugs can be fixed" NO. NO. YOU DO NOT SAY THAT.