Hello. I'm just a bit unsure as to how to proceed from here, so I'll just state the situation. I'm 22 and currently live in Kansas, US. Basically what's going on is I have a faint idea that I might be gay, homosexual. From a personal standpoint, I don't take sexuality very seriously, I think it's a rather overstressed issue among most people. I'm fairly unconcerned about it, but I think it's important to figure out what exactly I am from a sexual standpoint, what "label" I fit under, no matter how long it takes. I'm fairly patient and have no worries. However, I live in a very conservative area of the US. Homosexuality is not accepted here and I'm afraid if I'm open about my concerns, there will be reprecussions socially. To delve deeper into the personal side of it, which goes completely against my midwest upbringing , I think women are beautiful, cute, what have you, but I have no sexual inclination to act on those feelings. I do, however, feel attracted towards men, not my friends, but others I've met, in a strangely emotional, and sometimes physical way, but in a physical way I cannot describe well. So there's the situation. My problem, how does one explore this issue in such a conservative/closeminded environment. Any advice welcome, cheers guys.
Well, coming here was a great start their are plenty of people willing to help you sort this out. It pretty much sounds like you are gay. But, it's hard to judge just from that little data. Think back to when you were a kid and if you had those feelings then. That helped me a lot.
First off, welcome to EC. Second, you said that you wanted to see what "label" you fit under, but keep in mind that labels aren't everything. Sexuality is fluid and sometimes cannot be confined to the contrived words we have. But, to get to the real question in your post, if you live in a conservative part of the country perhaps it would be better to first start trying to figure this out online. I say this simply because you can find more accepting people more easily. Also, even if someone is not accepting, you can sever the connection and in theory never have to speak to that person again. However, even though you live in a conservative part of the country, you might check to see if there are any GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender--just in case you don't know the acronym) meetings near where you live. Also, do you have any family members of friends that you think you could talk to this about?
Hi Alex, Welcome to EC! I'm happy you found this forum. You will get some good advice and may be give some,too. I think you should take your time ,maybe get books to read,in fact,read coming out stories right here. (if you haven't,yet) The only one who can decide if you're gay or not,is you. You don't have to "label" yourself. There are other good web sites for questioning people. ( Gay.com is one) That's all I got! Hope I helped a little. Good luck in your journey.
