I had come out to a fellow volunteer and staff member in an organization I'm involved in a few months back. So I assumed that it was common knowledge. I was talking to another staff member (female) about family relationships and emotional intelligence, in relation to wills and her duties as an executrix. So the conversation went like this: Me: …… my brother is not aware of his or anyone else’s emotions. Her: but you are very emotionally clued in, you can see that in the way you deal with clients Me: I suppose that’s because I’ve done a lot of emotional work on myself, what with coming out and all that stuff The conversation went on for a while about family and technical issues. Then she put on that ‘wait a second WTF face’ and said “what do you mean ‘coming out’….” Me: I thought everybody knew …I’m GAY…. Her: It doesn’t make any difference to me. I presume it was very difficult for you to deal with. We then talked about it for about an hour. I suppose the reason the gossip didn’t spread is that it’s an organization that takes client confidentiality very seriously.
The moment you assume gossip but it doesn't happen - That is like the reversed world compared to most peoples experience. Still - I can understand the feeling if you are talking this way and someone doesn't know.