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THE PENNY PUB

This One Sentence Changed My Life

Our words have the power to unlock hidden truths

Patrick Paul Garlinger
The Penny Pub
Published in
4 min readNov 20, 2024

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Hands holding open book with tiny lights illuminating the pages
Photo by Nong on Unsplash

It was 1992, and I read this line in an essay for my Introduction to Women’s Studies class:

Tell them about how you’re never really a whole person if you remain silent, because there’s always that one little piece inside you that wants to be spoken out, and if you keep ignoring it, it gets madder and madder and hotter and hotter, and if you don’t speak it one day it will just up and punch you in the mouth from the inside.

As I reached the end, a thought flashed like a bolt of lightning: I am gay.

It was the first time I had uttered those words to myself, not as a question but as a declaration. At that moment, as a 19-year-old sophomore in college, I claimed a new identity for myself.

A single sentence saved me from years of self-loathing. Audre Lorde’s brief yet powerful essay, “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” cracked my inner defenses, spilling open a truth about myself I could no longer deny.

Within three weeks, I came out of the closet in a blazing spectacle of love and acceptance to my friends and family.

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The Penny Pub
The Penny Pub

Published in The Penny Pub

Nonfiction, culture-related writing prompts. A place to engage. Neurodiverse & queer writers are warmly welcomed and supported. We are a boost-eligible publication.

Patrick Paul Garlinger
Patrick Paul Garlinger

Written by Patrick Paul Garlinger

Latest Book: Endless Awakening: Time, Paradox, and the Path to Enlightenment. Former prof & lawyer, now mystic, writer, intuitive. buymeacoffee.com/iamppg

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