When I Came Out

When I came out to my high school best friend, he said: “I knew it all the time. I thought, it’s gonna take forever. I respect you for who you are no matter what.”

When I came out, my family fell silent and went into complete shock. My mom didn’t believe me and still doesn’t. My dad told me to get counseling. But a few weeks later we talk like normal. And they still love me, we just don’t talk about it anymore.

When I came out to my mom she didn’t speak to me for about 9 months, but very slowly she’s started coming around to being ok. That was 6 years ago. I’m getting married to my girlfriend in Iowa on the 29th, and there is never a day that gets happier than when I hear my mom talk about her soon-to-be daughter-in-law.

When I came out to my best friend, he said, “Well, about god damn time.” He knew long before me.

When I came out to my mom she asked me if I was really gay, or if it was the spirit of a gay man who had “invaded” my body (?). Then she read a bunch of books on gay kids and parenting and it was awesome.

When I came out to my father in 1998, he repeated “well, it is the 90s” about a half a dozen times. After about the 6th time of repeating the phrase, I said, “Dad, you know it’s the 1990s, not the Gay 1890s…” He smiled and we both laughed.

When I came out to my godmother/aunt she said, “God doesn’t approve but I still love you.” I understand that she’s trying to cope with it, being from a different culture. On Thanksgiving she said she was proud of who I am.

When I came out I told everyone they could call me fag or queer because it was the truth. Jock asked if he could call me a**-jockey and I told him he could call me AJ for short. Never caught hell for it in a 2,000+ population school.

When I came out to my mom, I told her I had fallen in love at camp. I told her it was a boy and that I was gay. Her response: “I’m not stupid!”

I came out to my best friend of 24 years, only for him to tell me he is gay. We were both surprised we never realized we were both LGBT. We then found it odd that the two only known LGBT in our original class of about 60 kids became best friends that early in life. We met in kindergarten and have been best friends since.