Coming out is unique to all of us.
There is no right or wrong way to do it, and for some LGBTQ+ people it isn’t a nice experience; rejection by family members, abuse and being kicked out of home can leave LGBTQ+ people with long-lasting trauma that effects their adult life.
We’re sharing coming out stories from across the globe to show how different each experience is, and to give hope to those with negative experiences that there is a world of LGBTQ+ people who love you, support you and will help you through it.
It is perhaps because of this lack of visibility and representation for intersex people, that myself and many others like me feel our intersex-ness to be at the forefront of what we are MOST proud of.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of London’s first Gay Pride rally which took place on 1st July 1972. 50 years on, trans people were excluded from the ban on conversion therapy that was announced this year, and a parliament debate on legal recognition for non-binary people went entirely unnoticed and was filled with misconceptions and flawed arguments.
First off, I don’t use the phrase ‘coming out’ anymore. I use ‘invited in’ -I don’t believe that I was ever in a closet. I have always been myself.
Being raised Catholic in Nigeria, one of the most homophobic countries in the world was very tough.
As I got older, I never stopped being attracted to women. I did my due diligence and married a man, bore three fine children, but my attraction remained.
It was only at the age of 42, after my first marriage ended that I finally decided to live in authenticity. That’s when I decided to stop living for others. To start living for myself.
Soon after that I met my now ex-wife, and the rest as they say is history.
Coming home from a failed marriage is better than coming home in a coffin.
I had created some form of odd ‘anti-identity’. I didn’t define myself by who I was, I did so by proclaiming who I wasn’t!
I have wild stories from my nights with friends but it was all about putting up walls. One time, I puked on a dude!
Something was always missing.
Since coming out, Rachael is my world. It all just feels ‘right’.
Want to add your own coming out story? Great, we’d love to read it!
Don’t worry, you can choose to publish it anonymously if you’d like – or alternatively, share it all over your social media!
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