Coming out and getting a better response than you expected

My wife, my kids, my friends, my mom, my sister and brother-in-law, my brother and sister-in-law, my wife's parents. I came out to each one in individual conversations, each one I bit the bullet and told them. I received love and support and acceptance from each one of them. Some I feared telling more than others but there was fear and nervousness with each.

 

I've told many people who I expected would take it badly, only to receive the opposite reaction. In actual fact, very few people who I have come out to have taken it badly. Some people have been neutral, expressing no particular opinion and I'm content with that because I don't want it to be a big deal anyway. My interactions with them are unchanged.

Only a few people have reacted to me with hostility and one of those people later apologised. Sometimes, people do react negatively in the heat of the moment and calm down after a period of reflection.

Coming out can overwhelm us with fear, but very often the only thing we have to fear (in the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt)... is fear itself.

 

Absolutely. Most have been amazingly well. It can be scary and you might imagine worst case senario. My father surprised me the most. He's doing well for me telling him.

 

I've not had one single bad reaction, even from my religious family. I can't believe it took me 15 fearful years to come out.

 

My coming out was difficult, but it was more than 20 years ago now. The family didn't do well at first, but since then everything is fine. My friends and coworkers have all been very supportive.

I think that we are finally in an age when coming out is seen as an act of integrity and born out of a need to be a complete human being. This notion is becoming so broadly accepted that even those who might be relatively ignorant on sexuality can still understand that we need to be whole.

So yes, I can relate to being afraid, and my experience has either been immediately positive or it just needed time. In recent history all my experiences coming out have been positive and supportive.