PERSONAL GROWTH
Fieldnotes on Coming Out
The journey is the destination
Coming out of the closet — revealing one’s sexual orientation as gay, lesbian, or bisexual— even in the twenty-first century can be a harrowing experience. This act of self-disclosure is not a singular event. It’s a process fraught with self-examination, rumination, internal struggle, revelation, and uncertainty, that occurs several times over the course of a person’s lifetime. While the act of self-disclosing to family and friends is more out of the closet than it was fifty years ago, the process of “coming out” is emotionally draining for many. And the circumstances in which these actions take place are as varied as the people who share their stories.
Deliberation
Long before a person decides to come out, no matter their age, they process this new facet of their personality/identity/life. Most LGBT people have known on some level which gender to which they’re attracted for as long as they can remember. Some people can recall memories from a very early age.
I was eight when I knew I liked both boys and girls. I did not need anyone to tell me the difference, I knew it. I knew I wanted a certain little girl to walk me…
