Oh wow. And is this prompt telling, ‘Post A Coming Out Story’, not ‘Your Coming Out Story’… because if you’re Queer you are always coming out. Again and again and again.
Or, well, maybe it’s just me. I’m a femme, straight passing cis-woman. I remember paddling in a canoe through Louisianna swamp in 2002 and explaining that because it was obvious to me I often forgot to tell people, oh yeah I like both men and women and so people would react in surprise when I dropped the correct pronouns into conversation.
And the straight people in the boat (an American drug dealer and a Swiss backpacker) were surprised that I was surprised because why would it be obvious that I wasn’t straight? Ahh one of my first frustations with the default assumptions of this very heteronormative world.
But then you have people like Brad Mondo, or other very obviously campy gay guys who everyone knows is gay, and him in a video for Pride Month talking about how he didn’t really see why he had to come out because everyone knew and obviously no one was going to be bothered.
I mean I love him, I love that he lives in an accepting world (and he does admit to knowing how lucky he is) but why we have to come out is part of that Quiltbag history that you’ve got to learn Brad! Come on!
I first Came Out unintentionally by being Outed at school. It could have been a lot worse. The fact that suddenly I, a hithertofore unattractive nerd girl, was being teased in sexual terms actually helped me feel reasonable about it but then I have a lot of weird reactions to things.
Then I guess uni was a lot of working out when to time “I’m going to the LGBTQ picnic” type announcements, especially to the very Catholic girl on my floor.
In fact life is always, do I mention that I have a girlfriend at home? If so when? How long is too long? What parts of my home life do I need to keep hidden in this particular situation.
It’s why a lot of my life is just plain exhausting, I mean apart from the Chronic Fatigue, obviously.