today in my english class we had a sub and pretty much the only thing we had to do was a bell-ringer and i decided to do mine relating to LGBT people, but the whole time i was completely stressed out, and didn't really want anyone to see what i was writing about. My classmates aren't homophobic (one is openly, and outwardly gay) but i'm not really out to them yet. but i thought that i was past all this and it really bothered me that i was so uncomfortable, even though after i turned it in the sub called me over and said how proud she was that i picked the subject.
Just give yourself time and do like breathing exercise aka counting to 10. Most likely, your just worried about being "open" about the topic which is very typical. The trick is not to scare yourself or becoming overly-anxious over nothing. Sure there are gonna be times when it conflicts with your environment(I didn't feel right giving advice without mentioning the bad as well, sorry if it makes you feel down) but this doesn't seem to be one of those times. Anyways, just be kind to yourself about the situation. It takes time, patience and quite a bit of self-awareness to hit the ideal definition of "Proud and Out." You're only sixteen so just relax and enjoy the ride dude, if you don't, it won't be as enjoyable in retrospect. Trust me. :icon_wink
I suppose it a bit like, liking something that is pro-gay on FB, if you click like you think, will people assume I am Gay if I like the article, being in the closet can make you very wary
It's normal for it to be hard. It gets easier slowly, and more the more out you are. Be kind to yourself about it.
I had basically the same "if you ask I'll tell," feeling about it. But I wanted everyone to ask. It's always much easier for me to say "yes, I'm gay," than to say "hi there, I'm gay!" So I wore my pink jeans to school just to give a few people an excuse to ask, and being how quickly word of that stuff spreads, suddenly I'm out.
I had an awesome time doing my research papers about the LGBT community while in college. It was a way for me to gain confidence, especially doing presentations in front of a ton of people. I had a final project where I had to create a pamphlet about crime prevention. Mine was about stopping hate crime against the LGBT community. I'm sure I probably outed myself in doing so, but it felt awesome! Don't worry, it'll get easier with time, just keep at it
Yeah I've had that happen quite a bit over the last few years, coming out and dealing with all of it head on so that I don't have to deny or struggle to answer people has helped but I just wasn't able to do that when I was younger. I still don't always have an easy time with all of it since I don't really look or act the part of a typical 'gay' male and people expect me to change since I'm 'gay'. Pssh, like that's ever going to happen :rolle:. I have my times, but don't expect me to be the most flamboyant person out there; it's just not how I roll. Part of it is that I really do care about gay rights and everything (Y'know, being gay and all) so I'm not able to just shrug off some of the criticism as lightly as if I was writing a paper on something like 15th century trading patterns, something that is pretty disconnected from my personal life.
