ON BEING OUT

ON BEING OUT

Today is National Coming Out Day, and I pause just a bit to think of my life. I’ve had the incredible fortune to be able to live the majority of my adult life as an openly gay man. Coming out comes in stages. First, you have to come out to yourself, then to your friends, and then your family—at least that’s the way it was for me and for most of the people I’ve known. However, I heard the other day something that really made me think—we actually never stop coming out. There’s always the coming out to new people we meet, co-workers, etc.

I think that now, in all of history, is the greatest time to be alive. It’s great to just be able to be who I am and not really worry about what people think. I think even living in the Deep South where many people don’t realize they know gay people, attitudes are changing, and most people are accepting.

I’ve never felt the need to be in your face about my sexuality. It’s part, not the whole, of who I am. I can’t think of a time in my recent past that I’ve denied my sexuality. I think people just take it as a given. It’s live and let live.

Here’s my confession: I’m proud to be who I am. I firmly believe I am who I am and I am who my God created me to be. And, if I’m being who my God created me to be, who can argue with that? I’ve been blessed in this life with wonderful friends who surround me. I wouldn’t be alive, I’m sure, were it not for many of my friends. Coming out was not an easy process when I decided it was time to make that leap, but I can count on one hand the number of people who have turned me away simply because I am gay. I wish everyone were so fortunate. “This above all, to thine own self be true…”