I was going to write up my coming out story for #NationalComingOutDay, but then I thought... wow, this story is really irrelevant now, isn't it? (thread inc)
By irrelevant I mean... well, when I was growing up, there were no examples of gay anything I could look to. Did you know that Liberace and even Boy George were initially thought to be straight? Eccentric, sure, but straight. Being gay was simply... 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑡.
I remember a TV special called "An Early Frost" that came on TV when I was a teenager. It was about AIDS. Everything that I first heard that related to gayness which wasn't about 𝑠𝑒𝑥 was about AIDS. Gay sex meant death, and to many... we deserved it.
That was the atmosphere I knew. No Gay-Straight Alliance in school. No Internet with its coming out stories and "It Gets Better" videos. Gay was the thing which you did not talk about until you escaped into adulthood and, hopefully, found some kindred spirits. Many did not.
I say that story is irrelevant now because... that life of desperation, of shouldering shame until it either killed you or you deliberately put it down doesn't happen the same way. It's not in the vacuum it was, and I'm unsure many will ever understand what it used to be like.
I'm not saying growing up gay will ever be easy... but, man, can I just say what I would have given for just 𝑜𝑛𝑒 gay character? One story which wasn't about death or shame? One anything which told me I wasn't alone?
It's better now, and that's great. After coming out four times (family, friends, co-workers, and then fans), I can say I am done with the ENTIRE idea. My only hope would be for a future where that is just some minor detail you get out of the way by the time you hit puberty.
