How many years have passed? How many more will you wait? I just came out as transgender, and I'm 72. If I accomplish nothing else, let me serve as a bad example. Whatever time passes before you get to be yourself is wasted, because you have lived it as less than the person you should have been. You have spent it deferring to others - to what you think are their expectations of you. You have allowed them to remain in their comfort zones while not expecting the same respect from them. You will do it now or you will do it later. It's all a matter of how much of your life you want to live on your terms and how much of it you want to cede to others. I see gay, lesbian and transgender people called "sinful", "degenerate", "abnormal", "sick", "mentally deficient"...you name it. And I laugh to myself, thinking that at least I'm not willfully ignorant. I don't close my mind to facts and define others in terms that make me feel good about living with like-minded individuals in a simplistic little world where everybody fits into neat little boxes and colors inside the lines. Be strong. Be proud. Be out.
Coming out is never done at the wrong time. The quality of your life is all that matters, it's the life in your years not the years out of the closet. Unless someone outs you, by force, any time is a good time to come out. So congratulations. Be proud of your chance to admit to yourself and others what makes you happy.
And clearly you don't have to be old to possess wisdom (or even over 30, for that matter!). Penguin is right. If you're still breathing, it's not too late.
Thanks! I just think it would be a shame if anybody accomplished something as monumental as coming out ad then utterly failed to acknowledge that as a good thing. The OP came ou when he was ready, and that's what matters. There is no expiry date on being ready, or being gay, or beings trans, or anything
You do it when you're ready. In hindsight it would have been better to come out in my twenties. However I've learned things along the way that I might not have learned as an out gay person. Life is a journey not a destination.
If anything coming out at 72 makes you a great example in showing it's never too late. I applaud your courage and wish you all the best
