Past, Present and Future: Coming Out

Hey guys,

Everyone who has come out, has a story, this is mine:

It was mid 2006, me and my girlfriend and a couple of our mates were hanging out in my room, drinking and playing Buzz. The night was pretty uneventful until my girlfriend bought up the "gay' topic. Something I've lived with my entire life is bullying! For as long as I can remember of school, I was the subject of bullying, so words like "gay" and "fag" etc don't overly phase me much nowadays. Anyway, she asked me if I was interested in guys, and at the time, with me not being ready to come out, denied it. She had said that all of her friends were mocking her for being a fag hag, some friends aye? And that they were telling her that I was gay and we shouldnt be together. After everyone went home, her and I continued texting each other and I told her I was Bi. She loved it. For her, to have a boyfriend who also liked guys was a novelty.

So this got the ball rolling. This gave me the courage to tell my sister and bestfriend, Toria. But I couldn't say it to her face, but I wanted to. I asked her if it was okay if I told her something HUGE through a text and she said, whatever I was comfortable with. So I sent her an SMS and told her I was Bi. During this conversation, it was the first and last time I cried over it. My sister fully supported me, which gave me the confidence to tell more and more people.

Over the next few months I told more and more of my close friends, coming out as Bi.

Then December 2006 I met a guy. I went to my sister for advice and asked her what I should do. My decision was to either:
-Come out to my parents and then pursue this guy, or
-Pursue this guy and then come out to my parents.

I decided to tell my parents first. It was a couple of days after christmas when I decided to do it. I got home from work and I was lingering around mum and dad all afternoon. They could tell something was up and I told them I wanted to tell them something. My nerves on a scale of one to ten were sitting at 40! They begin to guess what I wanted to tell them, which was more frustrating, and because all of their guesses were completely off the mark I began to giggle, uncontrollably, it was combination of nerves and frustration. Frustration because I couldnt say three simple words "I AM GAY"

I ended up talking the easy way out and told them that I was Bi. After they had attempted to guess everything under the sun, Dad said that he knew what it was, and I said, "What do you reckon it is?" and he says "You're gay" and I quickly countered with "Im Bi"
To me personally, it was me chickening out. I knew I was gay and that there was no chance of me ever happily marrying some girl and playing happy families. But it was easier for me. But at the same time, I gave them false hopes.

Mum was shocked, more so than Dad, which surprised me. I gave them a few hours to come to terms with it and then returned to the room they were in. Then came the questions, which I was completely happy with and was expecting.
The biggest question and the one Im sure we will all get asked is "How do you know?"
My answer was this: "You just do. How does someone know that they like dogs over cats? They just know. Its something deep down inside that tells you this is who you are"

All in all, my coming out story has been a positive experience. I was lucky enough to have a completely supportive and loving family and I am yet to have a bad experience (I've had minor bad experiences but nothing too grand).

So you can take from my story that not all coming out stories are as bad as you will first think. I had convinced myself years ago that me coming out will devestate everyone I know and love and that they will reject me and kick me to the curb. I was completely wrong.