I’m here. I’m queer. Let’s talk!
Today is National Coming Out Day, and in the interest of opening up interpersonal dialog on coming out issues, HRC‘s theme this year is “Talk About It.”
Coming out to oneself and to others is an ongoing process, but for me there was a turning point, in the summer after my sophomore year in college. I had struggled academically, and after having a very serious talk with my parents about that, they asked me if there was anything else on my mind. I hadn’t planned to come out at that moment, but I did. My dad said he thought it was just a phase, and to my regret, he and I never talked about it again. He was never openly homophobic; my relationships or love life just never came up as a topic of conversation. If in the years that followed he changed his way of thinking, he kept it to himself, but I’m grateful that in the precious little time we all spent together, he treated my partner Thom with respect and warmth.
My mom has definitely come around on gay issues. It’s still unfamiliar territory for her and for all of us really, but every now and then we take baby steps toward a kind of understanding. For example, when I lived on the East Coast, she would send me articles or call me with the latest gay news, be it same-sex marriage or gene research and so forth, which I appreciated. And we’ve had talks about what being gay means to me and how in the end that doesn’t differ so much from the path she might have envisioned for me. We all want to be happy.
Here’s to being out and keeping the conversation going.
4 replies on “Coming Out Day”
Lord … I’ve worked at the world’s largest gay media corporation for almost seven years. Being gay is the *last* thing I want to talk about when I get home! 🙂
let’s talk about it
I’m not sure why I need to say anything since, as a friend once said to me, when I expressed surprise that a co-worker didn’t know I was gay and had asked me about my wife, assuming that everyone knew…
Love being in conversation
I thought I had missed Coming Out Day, but I realized Wednesday was the day I was talking to my friend here about the whole being gay thing. Nice to know I was “on topic” for the day. *heh*
great photo of you, btw.
*smooches from London*