Starting to come out in a fraternity

Oh where to start...

About a year ago, a week before Valentines Day in 2012, I broke up with my long-term girlfriend. It was a mutual breakup where we both didn't feel that the relationship should last (she, and I at the time, thought that I was a bisexual).

Fast forward to the summer, I finally came out to my best friends. They knew that I had been questioning myself for some time, but they were all supportive. In general we make jokes about each other so now it's a running gag between ourselves about me being gay. It was an amazing summer, as it was the first time I could truly be myself around people I care about. They would try to hook me up with their friends and would ask me about it and most importantly they would actually care and were completely comfortable with us talking about it.

Now it is important to say here that my ex-girlfriend and I are still really good friends. One night she was hanging out with my friends and in their drunken stupor forgot that she didn't know that I was actually gay and they told her. Thankfully she called me and told me what they said and how she didn't care.

It was such a great summer I was almost worried going back to college. I'm in a fraternity at my school where a few guys know about me being gay, but not many. Also, my roommate at school doesn't know (he might have suspected, but we never actually talked about it).

I talked to some of the younger brothers (I can scarily admit that I am an older brother now...) and they said there is nothing I should be afraid of, and that if they don't respect me for who I am then it's tough for them. Even though I've read and heard that before, it was very comforting to hear it from a straight brother who knew. So with that I decided to start coming out to members of my fraternity.

Only a couple weeks ago, after talking to one of the younger guys in the fraternity and letting him persuade me, I texted my pledge class and asked them to meet with me later in the week. A pledge class is the group of guys that get initiated with you during your semester as a pledge before becoming a brother. Traditionally pledge classes are very close and my pledge class was no exception. My roommate is a pledge brother of mine so I was glad he would finally know.

We all met and I basically just laid it out there that I was gay, and I was sorry I hadn't told them before. I explained that I was the same guy that was with them from the beginning and if people had problems then they could talk to me or at worst motion for me to be removed from the fraternity. I also told them that using derogatory terms and all of that doesn't bother me and I asked for them to not change how they act because of me.

Then the best thing happened; they all looked around at each other (there were 10 of them), and one of them said 'no offense but who cares, you are still you.' Even since then they haven't changed how they act when hanging out and they still treat me the same way.

Now that I have that support network of my pledge class, I am slowly coming out to members of my fraternity. Thankfully even though I'm in a very, very conservative state the university of which I attend is a liberal school. I'm just glad that I had those younger guys support me and help me tell my pledge class, and now I'm glad that I have their support to tell the fraternity and my family.

Sorry for the long post, I was just appreciative of the support I got in the Greek system of my college and wanted to share it for anyone, especially anyone who is still closeted and in a fraternity.