#ncod16

BE UNAPOLOGETICALLY YOU. 

This day is about personal pride, being visible, and making a difference. It’s not about coming out for other people. 

Submit your story here to empower others: http://bit.ly/2dcgV2v  

I don’t know if this is considered a coming out story but here ya go: I come from a suburb of LA which is sweet right? it’s pretty much the home of the LGBT community, so being gay shouldn’t be that big of a deal for me; except for the fact the my whole family is very strong-practicing Mormons, and most of my friends are Mormons too. Don’t get me wrong, not all Mormons are bad people but come on, they do NOT support gay rights. So suppressing my feelings was kind of my only option. The summer of last year I met a girl at work and we slowly started to become very close to each other. The only problem is that I’m in love with her, but to her I’m just her best friend. I left for college (of course to Utah which is like 90% Mormons) and everything was fine, I told myself I’ll just never tell anyone I’m into girls, and I'll just get a boyfriend. I went on dates with boys but just never got into it. It wasn’t until I was asked the question, “what’s wrong? Are you not in the mood?” while trying to get intimate with a man I realized I could never be happy living a life like this. So that’s when I started drunkenly telling my gay guy friends (because I don’t personally know any gay girls) at parties that I thought I was gay but told them not to tell. After starting my sophomore year of college I put myself in a dark place. I stopped going to classes and doing my homework and hanging out with my friends because all my energy went to suppressing who I was. One day the girl from home was texting me and asked me what was wrong because she knew I had been having a hard time and we tell each other absolutely everything so she knew something was wrong. I ended up telling her that I was gay (not that I’m in love with her) and that I didn’t know what to do because if I told my school friends from Utah, I wouldn’t have anymore friends, and I can’t tell my family because I have heard them make comments about how being gay is “gross” and stuff like that. She insured me that she would never judge me for it but that’s about where my coming out ends. So I still don’t really have anyone to talk to so that’s why I joined tumblr to hopefully meet someone I can relate to.

(Submitted by @ijustwantasnack)