Misconceptions of Coming Out

Since I was 11 years old, my biggest fear was coming out as gay. As a Texas-raised Catholic, I had several misconceptions of what would happen if I came out. Fortunately, in my case, I was wrong about all of it.

Here are some of the misconceptions I had:

1. People will bully me. I feared that being out would put a target on my back. But the truth is, I was a already subject of bullying because people thought I was gay. In my case, the bullying stopped when I came out. Why? Because people feed off the unknown and love to judge someone who is struggling. When I came out, I wasn’t struggling — I was confident and accepting of myself.

2. Friends will abandon me.
I came from a divorced household. So, I relied on my friends to be there for me. I feared losing them. But here’s what I learned, if you surround yourself with good friends, they’ll never leave you. Unfortunately, I was the one who abandoned my friends. I thought separating myself and lying would protect our friendship, but it only hurt it. It wasn’t until I reconciled with them individually and explained everything that I realized they would have been 100% supportive.