It's been a while...

  

So, today has been National Coming Out Day in the UK. I can’t come up with the words, so I’ve stolen this from someone from Tumblr. Because it’s succinct and I couldn’t have said it better if I tried.

“Okay. So here’s the deal. It’s national coming out day. Coming out is a rewarding and challenging thing to do, but there seems to be this misconception that you only come out once. Like you announce it over a loud speaker and then from that point forward everybody just knows. But that’s not true. Once you come out, you have to keep coming out. Over and over again. You have to come out to each new person you meet. You have to come out to old friends you haven’t seen in a while. You have to come out to each family member and then to extended family. You start to wonder how many people know. How far the information has made it down the grapevine. It’s hard. It’s like being stuck in a game of Russian roulette that you never agreed to. Each time you start to speak up, the gun lowers to your head and you wait. You hold your breath. You wonder what’s coming. AN empty chamber? Or a bullet – right where it hurts. Every single time you make your speech, preface the expression of your sexuality, you think “Is this the day somebody I care about tells me I’m going to hell? Is this the day I finally hit the brick wall?” Coming to grips with ANY sexual identity isn't easy. But it’s worse when it’s swathed in a layer of fear. And sometimes that fear isn't optional. Sometimes that fear is warranted. But fear is often a choice. You can choose to let it define you, or you can choose to define yourself. And I choose the latter. Here goes nothing.

I’m gay

There. I said it. Did the sky fall? No. Did the sun explode? I won’t know for another eight minutes, but probably not. If you’re still reading this, the sun did not explode.”

It carries on, and is incredibly well written and moving and beautiful and brave. You’re probably wondering what my point is. My point is: I’m bisexual.

I can’t pinpoint exactly when I knew, but I’d been struggling with it for years. I recently came out to my best friend while we were in Germany, drunk on strong German beer in Oktoberfest. And it was such a relief. It was nice to be able to talk to someone about it.

So, there it is. That’s me.