Stepping Out From Behind The Curtain

Well, as many know, most of the people in my school know about my sexuality.

However on Tuesday (or later, depends on my schedule) I will be coming out to my entire Honors English class. Through a speech. In which I am declaring myself independent from homophobia.

Wish me luck everyone!

 

Here's the speech.

I have a question for you all. Have you ever had to hide who you truly are, to avoid injury, humiliation, or even death? I'm going to try and answer that question and say no.

Prejudice, especially in the form of homophobia, is terrible. There are so many people out there that are gay who are afraid to come out of the closet because of the backlash they might face from friends, family, strangers, the media, etc.

I'm declaring myself independent from a couple of things in this speech. First off, I declare myself independent from homophobia. It's a backwards way of thinking and if we keep advancing these thoughts people will never be equal. Second, I declare myself independent from hiding who I really am. My name is [my real name] and I am bisexual.

Think of me what you like, but I'm still the same person. That doesn't change the fact that I play the trumpet in school band or that my eyes are blue. It's just something that is a part of me, like any other personality trait. I can't change it and quite frankly I don't want to change it, because I'd be changing whom I really am. I'm sick of hiding behind doors and smokescreens. You don't have to hide who you're attracted, I do. I could walk out of this classrom and get killed. But I live with that and accept that. Because I can't not accept it and expect to live a happy life.

Have you ever had to accept something that was hard to swallow? Well, as you see, so have I. We have all had stuff in our life that's hard to understand and hard to deal with. But we deal and live. I don't let my sexuality affect anything I do. I think I'm pretty cool about it. I don't walk around waving a pride flag because I feel I don't have to. That's just not me.

Have you ever been picked on because of something? Like glasses or braces or funny hair? Homophobia is basically the hatred of homosexuality. I declare myself independent from it because it's ignorant. It's a step back in the human development of the brain. All it really is, is hating someone for something they can't control. I'm not up here to discuss what causes homosexuality, if you really care that much, go read a book. But in the meantime, don't be a homophobe. Treat people right, just because they are different from you doesn't make them bad people.

Has anyone heard the story of Matthew Shepard? He was a gay college student who was beaten to death by two strangers just because he was gay. Should tragedies like that happen in our modern world? NO! We are NOT barbarians. We solve things with our minds, not our fists, not our guns. Or at least, thats how it should work.

What would you do if your best friend told you that they were gay? Would you run screaming in the other direction? Or would you say 'hey, they're still the same person they just like the same gender'? Hopefully it's the latter of the two.

The real question for all homophobes is why does somebody else's personal life matter to you that much? I personally don't care who you date or marry or whatever. Unless I happen to be that person, it really doesn't matter to me. If you say 'hey I'm dating this person' I'll say 'Good for you, that's awesome. Here's a cookie'

Here's a little anecdote, true story, for you. My cousin Brian is gay. He's about 35 years old. He lived his entire life as a lie. He married a woman, had three kids with her, and then divorced her because he was, well, gay. He didn't want to come out because he was afraid of the reactions people would have. He suffered for over 10 years lying about who he was and trying to convince himself that he was straight. Was it right that he suffered for so long? That he had to wake up every morning and know that he was living a lie?

Why is it that when we think something is bad, we call it 'gay'? Gay has two definitions; they are homosexual and happy. First if it's bad, and an inanimate object how can it be attracted to members of the same gender if it doesn't have a gender to begin with? And how can the thing be happy if it isn't alive in the first place? Just a little food for thought.

I urge you all to declare yourself independent from homophobia. It's not a good thing, it doesn't improve the overall health of the world. It just makes the world and all of the people living in it a bit stupider.

To wrap this up, I want to say, l'amour ne sait pas de frontiere. Which is French for 'love knows no boundaries'. Thank you.

END

I'm really nervous because the girl I like is in my class...

 

In my English class we're studying American Revolution (1770's) era literature.

The Declaration of Independence was a crowning achievement, so my teacher wants us all to write a speech declaring ourselves independent from someone or something.

 

Okay, I gave my speech on Thursday.

I was the last person to go in my class. I was so nervous I could barely walk and I thought I was going to throw up. People were chanting for me to go on. It was scary.


The first 2 paragraphs of my speech went really well, I had no urge to vomit. I got to the third paragraph; where I come out to everyone. I nearly puked, no lie. Anyways, after I came out, there was dead silence. You could have heard a pin drop.

So, I continue my speech, being all passionate and whatever.

The bell rings before I could finish, but I actually only had one sentence to go.

Everyone in my class starts cheering and applauding me! Some even stood up.

I had to turn in my speech to my teacher, so I walked back to him, gave it to him and he said "Good thing no one had to go after you, that would be tough to follow"

I walked back to my desk (in the front of the room) and everyone was crowded around it.

People started hugging me and saying I was brave.

One girl said to me "I don't really know you that well, but I'm proud of you. That took a lot of guts, you're so brave." Then she hugged me.

Then, as I was walking to my class upstairs, a random girl from my class yelled "Sarah! I LOVE YOU".

Then next class (Fourth period) a guy comes up to me and says "I heard you came out to your entire English class". I said "Yep, sure did". I did my speech in 2nd period and people were coming up to me 2 periods later asking me about it. He even asked to see my speech, but I had put it in my locker.

In my last class (Biology) everyone in there that had heard the speech earlier wanted me to do it again, but I forgot it in my locker and I didn't memorize it. Then one girl came up to me and said "I still have goosebumps from your speech"

Later at band practice, a friend of mine and I are talking and she says "I heard you came out" I said "Yeah, I did" and she says "Good. I'm glad that you did. I'm happy for you"

The next day, when I went into English, one girl asked if they could give me a proper round of applause. My teacher let them so, well, they did. Then they wanted to go again! But, I didn't because we had more speeches to go that day.

Then in my 6th period class, we were put into groups to do an assignment and I was in a group with two girls from my English class. The one girl didn't hear the speech because she wasn't there. I also like her a lot, so...yeah. The other girl was like "Oh my god, you weren't there. You really have to hear it. It was amazing. It was the best speech ever" Then the girl who wasn't there said "I bet it was. Sarah is the best speaker in the school."

I seriously think that I've made history at my school.