Category: Coming (Out)
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The struggles of coming out and what it’s like to be accepted when you do
By Drew Spicer (He/Him/His) A lot of people don’t often take the time to sit down and think to themselves what it’s like for someone in the LGBTQ community to actually come out, especially if they aren’t part of the community themselves. Coming out is a stressful process. It can cause a lot of anxiety…
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Thank you for coming (out) as you are
Happy National Coming Out Day to those of you who have been out for years, those who are just inches from the closet and to those who aren’t quite at the right spot to do so. We would like to spend this day reflecting on those who have shared their stories with us for the…
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“I’m not crazy — this is how I felt my whole life.”
TW/CW: Brief mentions of suicide attempts and ideation but not into detail; gender dysphoria Pronouns: He/Him/His Drew recalls being as young as 4 years old when he started bunching up socks and putting them in his pants and wished on Troll dolls that certain body parts would grow. Anything outside of cisgender or straight was…
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Being transgender in the UK
By Vicki Faith I read yesterday — with much relief — that the Court of Appeal has overturned an earlier decision to ban prescription of puberty blockers to those under 16 years old who don’t have parental consent. I had been pretty wound up about this and was glad to see that the courts had…
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“It felt like my whole body completely betrayed me.”
Pronouns: He/Him/His or They/Them Lucian vividly recalls a game in elementary school called “Catch and Kiss ‘em.” At one point, his peers were shouting at him that he wasn’t playing right when he started chasing after the girls. He was a tomboy growing up with two close boy friends, never really seeing himself as a…
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“It’s nice to meet and communicate with people with similar life experiences to help better understand ourselves and our place in the world.”
Pronouns: He/Him/His Bob grew up in Philadelphia and went to a Catholic Elementary School, but didn’t start questioning his sexuality until his mid-30s. When he came out to his wife a few years ago, it didn’t go well, essentially throwing his life into a “tailspin.” Though his adult daughters have been quite supportive and understanding,…
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“If this is what it takes to get to heaven, I’d rather just go to hell and be true to my morals.”
CW/TW: SA Pronouns: He/Him/His Cody grew up in a small, conservative town on the western side of Wisconsin, where his family practiced the Baptist faith and attended church every Sunday. He also went to youth group each Wednesday. At one point during his childhood, he even got the “gay people are evil” talk from the…
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“We both accepted it even before we had the words to know what it meant.”
Pronouns: He/Him/His Adam grew up in a lower middle class household where his father raised him and his sister on his own from when he was just 7 years old. “I never really had much of a community or social network outside of school and my limited number of friends, as my father is an…
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“It’s their journey, not mine”: Mother opens up about parenting LGBTQ kids
Marjorie: She/Her/HersTemple: They/ThemAlyx: They/ThemRoslyn: She/Her/Hers Temple and Alyx are two of Marjorie’s three children who are out to her. “Temple has been out for longer — I want to say they were 11 or 12,” Marjorie said, noting that they’re 14 now. “It was cute because Temple and I have a notebook we pass…
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“I never really came out and I’m married to a man.”
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers Just a few months ago, Heather’s daughter, Corryn, came out to her as pansexual. “I always suspected she was either gay, pan or something else,” she explained. “For her birthday a few months ago, she made a wishlist and brought it to me, turned around and ran away. “The fourth thing down the…
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“Be yourself and do what you think is right.”
Pronouns: He/Him/His Kirby was raised in a Catholic household in southern California but doesn’t practice anymore. He’s the youngest of four, among a brother and two sisters, with a “great childhood” playing sports and excelling academically. He said he has a wonderful relationship with his parents, who are still together, and talks with them nearly…
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“They told me they would never see me as anything other than their daughter.”
CW: Suicide ideation, hospitalization/psych ward Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs Nico grew up in a small town in the upper peninsula of Michigan called Escanaba, where they said there was no LGBTQ community whatsoever. “It’s pretty much a ghost town where only old people live,” they said. “I was raised in a very Catholic community to where it…
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“Coming out was one of the best things I’ve ever done.”
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs Logan grew up in a white, middle-class Catholic household and started questioning their identity when they were just 12 years old. They described their experience questioning as “exciting” yet also “kind of scary.” Logan first came out to their friends at school, who took it well. But before then, they were anxious to…
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“I was lucky to have an older sibling that came out before me.”
Pronouns: He/Him/His Anthony’s relationship with his family was complicated — not so much by my being gay, but by other issues. He coins himself as lucky that he lived in a major city with a gay community he was aware of. In high school, he was able to connect with others in the community. However, it…
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Sharing your story just got easier
That’s right, folks. You heard it here. If you’re not very social but would still like to share your coming (out) story, follow this beautiful link here to fill out a quick and painless form. It’s all of the same things you’d be asked in a regular interview, just more streamlined and hassle-free. As always,…
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“I push to educate people and make sure we have a society that’s more accepting for people to come out.”
Pronouns: He/Him/His Local Wisconsin politician Aaron Wojciechowski had unspoken love and support with his entire family growing up. “I never grew up in a homophobic household,” he explained. “My parents were always very supportive, loving and caring.” But they never talked about sexuality; at first, he thought liking the same sex was normal. But as…
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“Our relationship has been virtually nonexistent ever since.”
Pronouns: He/Him/His Art Smith grew up in New Jersey, just a short distance from the Big Apple, in the ‘60s and ‘70s. “I was active in the local Catholic church and was a very good student,” Art said. “I had quite a few friends and got along with pretty much everyone. My family life was…
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“I thought this is just how kids are.”
TW: molestation/sexual assault Pronouns: She/Her/Hers Irene grew up in Namibia, a country that borders South Africa, with a “very weird, very Christian” family dynamic. “In [my parents’] eyes, being LGBTQ is evil,” she said. Though religious, Irene’s mother was quite progressive. As a child, she was molested by a relative and her mother “very quickly…
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“Well, what are you then?”
Spoiler alert, I still don’t know. Pronouns: She/They It was a pretty typical childhood for me: playing with neighbors, running around the neighborhood and eventually growing out of it, as one usually does. I hope. My sibling and I grew up with divorced parents from a young age, so we were used to moving between…
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“I wanted to be confident in who I was before I showed that side of me to the world.”
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers For the first 13 years of Ivy’s life, she grew up in Henderson, Nevada, not too far from Las Vegas before the family packed up and moved to Wisconsin. She lived a typical suburban life with two younger sisters, a mother and a father. She was raised in a fairly conservative and religious…
Come (Out) as You Are 