Heya forkies. Can't get to your letter but I'm sure its really nice (connection timeouts).
I 'came out' (hate that phrase sooooo much) just a few days before my 21st birthday to a couple of colleagues at the school I was working in at the time. I'd known both of them for years - one was male, the other female. Outwardly at the time I was still really unsettled with my sexuality but inwardly I knew it wasn't going to change.
There was one other person who I really wanted to talk to about it, another female colleague who I'd known since I was about 11, someone who I could talk to about (just about) anything. But I couldn't. I felt at the time that she had far too much else going on in her life to land her with this as well - her youngest son who was 4 years old at the time was going though a bone-marrow transplant.
A while after that I told my mother and she wasn't surprised in the slightest but was a little upset for the usual reasons. She asked if I'd told my dad, which I hadn't and really didn't want him to know at that point for various reasons. My mother, bless her managed to keep quiet about it to my dad for the best part of a year. She did talk to my sister about it which I was fine with.
I finally came out to my dad after a horrendous session with my doctor. I'd been feeling crap for months and months and my boyfriend eventually persuaded me to visit my GP. I did and was diagnosed with chroic depression and was put on some pretty hefty medication which just totally spaced me out. I couldn't hide that from my dad and when he asked me what was going on and I told him. I was completely surprised with how well he took it, I was so totally not expecting him to take it like he did.
Now, I'm far more comfortable with my sexuality and I'm out to the people who matter, my friends and family and I'm living with my partner of four and a half years and couldn't be happier. I'm not totally out at work which annoys me somewhat because I'd like to be able to talk about my boyfriend. I'm out to a few people in my office and they're really cool about it, however there is this one guy who is the same age as me who is a complete homophobe - he's admitted as much in conversation before. The people I am out to just don't get how he can be like that. I'm friendly enough with this guy most of the time but sometimes he just really gets on my tits. Also, with the type of work I do I can't really be quite as open as I would like to be - certainly in this area there is still a suspicion about gay men who work with children.
Anyhow, I'm rambling now... off for a glass of wine and a smoke.
Edited to add: I did eventually manage to speak to my friend about it (the one with the kid) and she has been one of the most supportive people I know.
I 'came out' (hate that phrase sooooo much) just a few days before my 21st birthday to a couple of colleagues at the school I was working in at the time. I'd known both of them for years - one was male, the other female. Outwardly at the time I was still really unsettled with my sexuality but inwardly I knew it wasn't going to change.
There was one other person who I really wanted to talk to about it, another female colleague who I'd known since I was about 11, someone who I could talk to about (just about) anything. But I couldn't. I felt at the time that she had far too much else going on in her life to land her with this as well - her youngest son who was 4 years old at the time was going though a bone-marrow transplant.
A while after that I told my mother and she wasn't surprised in the slightest but was a little upset for the usual reasons. She asked if I'd told my dad, which I hadn't and really didn't want him to know at that point for various reasons. My mother, bless her managed to keep quiet about it to my dad for the best part of a year. She did talk to my sister about it which I was fine with.
I finally came out to my dad after a horrendous session with my doctor. I'd been feeling crap for months and months and my boyfriend eventually persuaded me to visit my GP. I did and was diagnosed with chroic depression and was put on some pretty hefty medication which just totally spaced me out. I couldn't hide that from my dad and when he asked me what was going on and I told him. I was completely surprised with how well he took it, I was so totally not expecting him to take it like he did.
Now, I'm far more comfortable with my sexuality and I'm out to the people who matter, my friends and family and I'm living with my partner of four and a half years and couldn't be happier. I'm not totally out at work which annoys me somewhat because I'd like to be able to talk about my boyfriend. I'm out to a few people in my office and they're really cool about it, however there is this one guy who is the same age as me who is a complete homophobe - he's admitted as much in conversation before. The people I am out to just don't get how he can be like that. I'm friendly enough with this guy most of the time but sometimes he just really gets on my tits. Also, with the type of work I do I can't really be quite as open as I would like to be - certainly in this area there is still a suspicion about gay men who work with children.
Anyhow, I'm rambling now... off for a glass of wine and a smoke.
Edited to add: I did eventually manage to speak to my friend about it (the one with the kid) and she has been one of the most supportive people I know.