Version 10 I was at a Finding Nemo attraction in Disney World when my mother made a comment about disliking Ellen Degeneres, that was the first time I remember hearing someone speak negatively of homosexuality. It didn't bother me as a 7 year old; I didn't know any better because I didn't fully understand why she disliked her. I knew that our religion wasn't very accepting of homosexuality, but I only had a vague understanding of it at the time. It was one of those things that wasn't really talked about, and certainly not in front of me, a child.…
Coming out isn’t ever painless, but in the end it’s worthwhile. On October 10, 2015 I came out to my friends as a lesbian. It took over three years to mustard up the courage to accept myself. The moment I realized I was “different” I immediately block the notion from my head and reframed from it for over two years. I allowed myself to believe the lie I fictitious, until the point I could no longer function.…
I've come to realize that being a lesbian is a big part of who I am. It's not all that I am, but it's a single word that succinctly describes an otherwise mysterious part of myself, and it comes with an entire culture. It might seem like an arbitrary trait to focus so heavily on, but I think many people don't realize what a big role their orientation plays in their lives. Humans naturally want to understand themselves, but that was hard for me in a society that allows little flexibility in regards to gender and sexuality. Growing up with that pressure added to the feeling that my true self was buried under piles of assumptions and expectations, and it took a lot of digging to unearth it.…
Coming out is such a terrifying, depressing, hard experience. When I came out, I wasn’t ready. Back on November 9th, 2015, I first came out to my mom, and than next I came out to all of my friends, and they didn’t really support me, or they didn’t believe me. I was so scared, I became so depressed, and so upset. I felt unwanted, and I felt so wrong.…
In “Complicating the Coming Out Narrative: Becoming Oneself in a Heterosexist and Cissexist World”, the authors discuss the different experiences that LGBT youth have in order to complicate the traditional coming out narrative (Klein et al. 298). She writes, “Developing relationships with people with shared identities was a complex process for youth, both facilitating and complicating their understandings of their gender and sexuality (Klein et al. 310-311). ”…
I for one never have a negative or positive feeling toward gays before this, but about two weeks of this, my feelings changed. I started saying and treating him just like the others, which never sat well with me. I felt as if I took the role of Geryon when he was feeling like his back was against the wall with Ancash on the roof. The only difference in our story was that he never saw my wings. Somehow, after all of this happening in high school, it turned out that my best friend in college would be gay.…
Another identity which has continued to alter my worldview is that of a queer man. When I first ‘came out,’ I was in 8th grade. I lived in what my mother calls “trailer park culture,” which is the culture formed through living in a run-down, rural neighborhood. The identity I held at home was incompatible with my queer identity, so I had to learn at an early age how to reconcile playing these two roles separately, which is something I still do today. The social expectations in the larger queer community require economic stature, while the social reality of my home background is a severe lack…
Personal Narrative: My Coming Out Story I came out of the closet twice actually. The first time was in the eighth grade when I came out as a lesbian to the whole community (If they cared to ask anyway). The second time I chose to come out of the closet was at the end of my sophomore year of high school, only this time I was coming out as transgender. Choosing to come out the closet for a second time wasn’t any easier than the first time, if anything it was even harder. My second coming out is the one I’d like to focus on though, when I chose to allow myself to be my true self no matter the cost.…
What's wrong with love? Because last time I checked that all any of us want. A sense of happiness or something to escape the loneliness, either way we all want love. It's one of the only things that unite us all as humans, then how come we put restrictions on love saying she can only be with him and he can only be with her, what's wrong with him and him or her and her, because is that not love too? Living in this world full of hate it can be hard to be yourself, which is damaging to everyone.…
I, Jenni Viviano am a heterosexual, middle-class, white, androgynous, and cisgender female. I have lived in the same small town my entire life and spent most of my life around the same people. I have a two-year degree, and I’m currently working on my four-year degree. I attended two SUNY schools rather than private schools. Does all of this affect my ideologies?…
As a person who grew up in a small southern bible belt town in the middle of nowhere, being gay can have it's hardships. You spend most of your early years trying to hide it and having people make fun of you for the things you like, or the things you do. I have always been gay and somehow this town knew it before I did. I tried very hard to make who I was someone I wasn't because I was petrified that I would not be accepted and people would reject me. As time went on I became less of a person who cared what people thought and more of a person who wanted to be himself.…
As you’ve probably already read in my Common App essay, I came out as gay during my Freshman year of high school. While that is a commendable feat for anyone, the circumstances of my coming out were very different. I came out to my entire conservative community, Newark, a town of about 1000. Where hope once resided, fear took over.…
When I first realized I was gay, it did not seem like a big difference. Some exciting stuff happened, like gay marriage becoming legal and meeting a group of friends who were also part of the lgbtq community. As time went on I trended towards music, art, literature, almost anything as long as I felt accepted or represented. I became more political as it became clear that more people than I could have imagined would like to take away my basic rights or the rights of those in my community. I could not understand how others were not keeping up in the realm of politics, why they were not as loud as me when it came to the same issues.…
I would always be gay and it was just best if I accepted the fact and live in peace with it rather than hate myself for the rest of my life over something that doesn’t need to cause me pain. It was time for me to see the sun even if it would take some getting used to. I was gay and there was nothing I could do about it. I need to be happy with who I am so ill take it and make the best of it. At my grandpas, I was able to paint my nails, something I 'd always wanted to do but thought that it was wrong of me.…
I believe I am an ambivert someone who is likes to be in big groups and socialize and also likes to be independent. I like to be in big groups and be social with a lot of people go to places with a group of friends and hang out. But I do love when I can just sit in my room alone and binge watch Netflix and just be by myself. When I’m with my friends I’m hyper excited and just filled with a bunch of emotions; but when I’m alone I’m calm and relaxed. From time to time I like to just go take a drive alone out to a lake and kind of just sit there and relax, while I listen to the water and the animals and everything that’s around me.…