Why We Come Out - Updated 12-04-13

In the last 24 hours (as I write this), two celebrities have come out of the closet as bisexual: Olympic Gold Medalist Diver Tom Daley and Actress Maria Bello.  One of the common comments on these stories are those purporting to be straight who ask why is it necessary for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals find it necessary to broadcast to the world their sexual preference when straight people don't need to.  These straights need to get a fucking clue.

As a gay male, I actually find that question rather insulting.  The question not only shows their own ignorance as to the open discrimination experienced by GLBT persons, but also their own discriminatory attitudes towards us.  In short, the question basically is telling us "fags" to shut the fuck up and go back into the shadows.

We come out of the closet to liberate ourselves.  We come out of the closet to be true to ourselves and those around us.  We come out of the closet to openly love.  And most importantly, we come out of the closet to let society know that they can't treat us as second class beings.

Tom and Maria both took courageous steps in their coming out and I raise my glass to them.



*UPDATE* It has been pointed out that neither Tom nor Maria actually mentioned being bisexual in their statements and I admit it was presumptuous on my part to label either of them without they themselves doing so first. I apologize to both Tom and Maria for such a horrendous mistake on my part.

Born This Way

If you haven't figured it out by now, I am gay.  To me, I didn't make a choice to be gay, I made a choice to accept that I am gay.  In fact, I was born this way, in God's image if you will.

I have known since I was nine years old that I was "different" from others when I paid more attention to the guys in my dad's porn magazines.  My teenage years were filled with stories about the mysterious gay "cancer" that was later to be called HIV and AIDS.  It wasn't easy to come out in small town Iowa and it wasn't until I was 18 that I finally did to my parents.  Let's just say it took a few years for them to accept what they had always known to be true, but now we couldn't be closer.

My story is not unique.  Oh, certain aspects of it are, since we all have unique experiences, but overall, its a story as old as time itself.  The Born This Way Blog is a wonderful collection of such stories and I invite everyone to take a moment to check it out.  Some of you may recognize yourselves in the stories, others will recognize their childhood friends.