Chase's Story

My name's Chase. I was lucky enough to have two 'coming outs,' because my first one turned out to be one horror story. My first attempt was in 1997. I was in seventh grade, 13, and naive enough to think that nothing bad would come out of my coming out. So I brought a group of six friends together I felt really close to, and told them about me. Although most were okay with it, my choice of location was a little bit... shall we say... incredibly stupid. I came out in a high school gymnasium. Although I thought I was being quiet, apparently someone whom I didn't need to hear, did. And in a high school with less than 300 people in it, it was all over the school in less than an hour. To make a long story short, I lost some friends, my conservative grandmother found out and raised hell, and I was very self-conscious about myself for about the ensuing three years.

Luckily, everyone forgot about it and within those three years, the self-consciousness went away. But, however, the feelings of isolation and being an outcast returned to me. And this year, being a high school sophomore, it felt like the time had come to come out again... and properly this time. I only chose those who I felt had a very close bond with, and knew ahead of time that they don't judge people based on their own beliefs.

So to make a long story short (too late!) there are now four people who truly know about me, and each one couldn't be cooler with it. Two of them even go so far as to playfully make jokes around me all the time. It makes me feel very comfortable to be in this situation, without the fear of rejection and ridicule.