Has your sexuality ever stopped you from doing something or achieving something?

We all get it. Sometimes it's because of other people, but a lot of the time, nothing but our fear is keeping us from doing something. I don't know how the homophobia situation in Ireland is, but if it's generally accepted, you could consider coming out publicly and making it clear to girls that you're not about to play the sexual predator. Whatever the situation is, though, you WOULD get hate. But chances are, you'd have some friends to help you with it.

Of course, there's no guarantees. They say all's fair in love and war - but really, all's unfair in the war of love between same-gendered people.

Good luck!

 

I wouldn't think they'd think you weird because you were extremely open about your sexuality - but at the same I can see where you're coming from. If you wanted to 'broadcast it' so to speak, you could always wear rainbow tees and pride bracelets, but obviously that's kind of overkill in many situations. Does your campus have an LGBT centre? If so, you could frequent it and easily drop it into conversation in passing, so they get the massage early on.

However, past that, I don't have any great advice for you. Try joining new clubs or trying new activities, I suppose - find new circles within which to find new friends that don't care whether you're gay or straight.

 

When I was coming out in college, I thought nothing of mentioning my orientation within minutes of meeting new (straight) housemates.

While bringing up your orientation in the middle of a conversation about the weather might be a bit out of left field, it's perfectly possible to bring it up quite casually in a range of situations. Such as:

Mention your taste in men in the same way others mention their taste in the opposite sex (Ex: I'm really into guys with beards (or whatever you're really into in a guy).

Put up posters or a calendar that highlights attractive guys. Visitors will see them.

In response to a question or statement just casually mention you're into guys. (Ex: Friend/someone you know points out a woman and asks you if you think she's attractive. You casually respond that you wouldn't know since you're into guys - or something like that).

When talking about what you did over the weekend, casually talk about the date you had with a guy or the gay bar you went to or whatever. You've surely heard straights talk about their weekend in this fashion. Do the same.

The biggest thing here (IMO) is to treat being gay as no big deal and just a part of who you are. And that you have every bit as much right to be open about it as straight people are open about their orientation. Being gay is not something to treat as a shameful secret - treat it as just another part of who you are.

My 2c worth,

Todd