I know all situations are different, but how do react to someone who has a negative reaction to learning about your orientation? What is your protocol? How about if it is a family member? A coworker? An aquaintance? I tend to be an Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), so I may be hypervigilant to someones reaction and not know how to react myself, even if it is an awkward facial experession of someone toward me.
I tend to react with something similar to "well, I'm gay and there's nothing I or anyone else can do about it. It doesn't define me and I don't see why your opinion should change about me for something that doesn't affect you." You could add something like "I'd still love to be friends with you, but if you can't accept something that's out of my control then I guess you were never a true friend," but I tend to advise against guilt-tripping people. At the end of the day, if someone doesn't accept you then they were never truly your friends. Family tend to come around after a while. No point wasting time with people who don't care. All the best.
I don't really 'come-out'; I just don't censor my pronouns when talking, people just seem to pick it up I guess. I often do get the "Are you gay?", so then I just confirm so; if the response is bad, I'll just laugh and walk away. Their problem, not mine.
haha well, i can be pretty obnoxious, so i'd patronize, or maybe just a quick "awww, womp womp," so they understand that i seriously do not care that they're bothered. i've never had a problem from anyone, though.
I've never had a negative reaction from anyone after telling them. I've had people assume I'm joking and not believe me, but I've never had anything negative said about me being gay.
i think the most negative reaction i've received is, "you're too pretty to be that way," which is still technically a compliment so i wasn't offended haha.
It's been a while since i've actually had to tell people "I'm gay". It's not something I focus on at all because I don't really view it as something important. But then again, I also have no filter on my brain when I'm actually talking to people. Whatever I'm thinking falls out of my mouth. So if I'm telling a story about my ex girlfriend, or my current girlfriend, or whatever, there's really no thought process behind it other than remembering the story and communicating it. I am very casual about my orientation. I find it no more interesting than the fact that I have 4 fingers and two thumbs on each hand, or that my stomach digests food. So, when the words "my girlfriend" come up in conversation, I don't expand on it anymore than that. If people ask me questions, I answer them honestly, and usually crack a few jokes at my own expense. There have been people who have had a negative reaction to my orientation, and dealing with them is always different. Certain members of my family, we just don't talk about it. They know I'm gay, but it's not a subject that comes up between us. I don't keep friends in my life that aren't ok with it, because if they can't accept it, then obviously we weren't that good of friends to begin with. So, I walk away and tell them something along the lines of "I'm sorry you feel that way. If you change your mind, my number is not changing anytime soon, and you know how to find me. If you ever need something, I'll be there for you." I am an extremely forgiving person. People make mistakes, and they say things they don't mean. But they also grow and adapt. If you don't think that people can change much in a short space of time, try this. Write yourself a letter today, and put in it the most important things to you right now. Music, books, tv, movies, friends, political views, anything that seems important to you. Seal it in an envelope, and put it away. One year from today, crack it open and read it. You'll be amazed.
