Coming-out is about many things. It's about freedom from fear, from shame, but most of all it's about being true to yourself regardless of what anyone else thinks. It was hard enough for me to admit that I was gay to my family members. I don't think I actually ever "officially" came out to my high school friends or my college friends, I just kind of lived my life. But with the need to share the facts about HIV-positive transplantation, being gay didn't seem so heavy.
Coming out is never easy and posting to the world the fact that I'm HIV-positive was my own form of coming out. So I have to recognize a dear friend of mine, Kelly Shelton. Kelly came out to everyone on Facebook with the following post. No one de-friended her.
"With all the suicides going on, I can't stay quiet. I know most, if not all of you, on my friends list is out and proud. I'm not, and this is my own personal outing, because I can't be a hypocrite.
I'm bisexual and I'm not one of the "fashionable" ones like what Katy Perry sings about.
My first attraction was to women. I was outed at one school, and it took moving away to another to make it get any better. I was tormented, physically and verbally abused, and forced to change in a bathroom stall during gym class. After what I went through, I was never going to out myself. I was going to keep my interest in females in the closet, because you know what? I thought I belonged there. That my female friends would then be uncomfortable around me. That's not what I want. If you're my friend, I respect you, and know what you are, and I'm allright with it. I hope that, in turn, you can understand that I know what I am, and it's my choice. If you can't accept me for who I am, you aren't my friend, and in the long run, I'll be better off. This is in memory of Seth Walsh, Tyler Clementi, Brandon Bitner, Matthew Shepard, and every single GLBT person that has been bullied or killed for being who they are. It Gets Better."
Kelly, you make me very proud to count you as one of my friends. Now you can take a deep breath and continued to lead your life as you always have two yourself.
Red
Coming out is never easy and posting to the world the fact that I'm HIV-positive was my own form of coming out. So I have to recognize a dear friend of mine, Kelly Shelton. Kelly came out to everyone on Facebook with the following post. No one de-friended her.
"With all the suicides going on, I can't stay quiet. I know most, if not all of you, on my friends list is out and proud. I'm not, and this is my own personal outing, because I can't be a hypocrite.
I'm bisexual and I'm not one of the "fashionable" ones like what Katy Perry sings about.
My first attraction was to women. I was outed at one school, and it took moving away to another to make it get any better. I was tormented, physically and verbally abused, and forced to change in a bathroom stall during gym class. After what I went through, I was never going to out myself. I was going to keep my interest in females in the closet, because you know what? I thought I belonged there. That my female friends would then be uncomfortable around me. That's not what I want. If you're my friend, I respect you, and know what you are, and I'm allright with it. I hope that, in turn, you can understand that I know what I am, and it's my choice. If you can't accept me for who I am, you aren't my friend, and in the long run, I'll be better off. This is in memory of Seth Walsh, Tyler Clementi, Brandon Bitner, Matthew Shepard, and every single GLBT person that has been bullied or killed for being who they are. It Gets Better."
Kelly, you make me very proud to count you as one of my friends. Now you can take a deep breath and continued to lead your life as you always have two yourself.
Red
Thank you, sweetheart! The outpouring of support was really overwhelming, and it makes me feel better knowing that everyone has accepted me for who I am.
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