Last year at work we had this diversity training we had to go to. They had a speaker talk about LGBT issues. One thing stick out in my mind. He said every morning when I get up, I have to come out again. I was reminded of that tonight. I have been chatting with an old college friend via email, that I have not talked to in a while. He volunteers with the boy scouts. Last year he had over 700 hours of volunteer time. I also have been volunteering with a gay mens AIDS prevention group. I started to mention it, then I remember he doesn't know I gay. Crud, I'm not really worried about his response, but I really don't have the energy for the conversation right now. So i just leave it out. I think we need to take out an ad during the super bowl. We can list everyone that is gay. That way we don't have to worry about who knows and who doesn't.
Yea. Sometimes it bothers me too. But lately I've figured I just work it into the conversation as if it's normal-which to me it is. I get varied responses from "not even phased/conversation continues", to "oh really? You are?" to disgust. But really in every day life the more people find out that LGBT people exist, the better off we are. That's what I believe anyway. Raise awareness that we aren't scary aliens and the stereotypes and illusions that we're bad people will fade.
Every time I visit my Grandma I have to come out again. She is losing her memory, not as bad as Alzheimers but still pretty badly. When she doesn't call me by my Mom's name she asks every time "Have you got a boyfriend yet?" Kind of an amalgamation of concern over my love life and consistently forgetting I'm gay, despite the fact I told her two years ago and repeated myself every time I see her. Still, her reaction is always surprised yet positive, so it's not too bad, just a little frustrating.
It's odd and annoying. But I'm at a place where I kinda like coming out to people, so it kinda disappoints me when someone already knows cause one of my friends told 'em (most recently with this awesome--and adorable--lesbian I met).
Anyway when she was your age a vast majority of gay people were in the closet. In addition family secrets then were just secrets. Of course families did strongly suppect someone in the family was gay but that issue was not really openly discussed. Her mind is in a different time period rather than the 21st century.
i actually love the idea of an add reeling off all the lgbt people out there and its like WERE EVERYWHERE! ok that would prob just scare people lol
lol. "hey, grandma, I'm gay." "congratulations!" sorry. Too early. Yeah, there are lots of people at school or dance that I think know and then they end up actually not knowing so that leads to awkward conversations... And some forget after I tell them. THAT's annoying.
I find that putting my sexuality in my Facebook profile and wearing rainbow jewelry does wonders for helping me come out to people every day. It's like my closet door is an automatic one.
Hmmm, I know this isn't what you meant, but something about always finding yourself back in the closet having to come out again reminds me of those moments in cartoons when someone is trying to escape from a room and no matter which way they go they invariably end up back in the room... Or like the infinite staircase where you never get any higher no matter how far you climb... I'm sorry, I'll stop being depressing now...