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Why #2

 My earliest memory is feeling different from my peers at school, especially my male peers. I was only in 4th or 5th grade.

 

While my other male peers were into sports and doing other “macho” cliche guy stuff like baseball (I did have a short baseball stint until the end of farm team) it wasn’t for me. I enjoyed spending more of my time in the library or visiting older relatives with my mom. 

 

My teachers would compliment me on my beautiful handwriting, but I was often teased by my peers for “writing like a girl”. I don’t remember ever sticking up for myself, but I was often in the principal’s office for acting out or talking too much in class.

 

I struggled through my elementary and middle school years, wondering how I would be received by my family, my friends, my peers, and my community when I came out as gay.

 

During my junior year of high school, I finally confided in a so-called friend after a school dance and was immediately outed. Sent into a panic, I had to rush to be the first to tell my family before the news got back to them, which it often did at other times while growing up. 

 

Because I had an older cousin who was gay and well accepted in our family, deep down I had suspected they would be accepting of me too. And they were. And in the end many people weren’t even shocked. 

 

I joined Equity Buckfield because I support the idea that kids shouldn’t have to live in fear or wait until late in life to come out as who they really are. 


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#equitybuckfield #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq[half rainbow emoji] #lgbtqia #lgbtpride #lgbtcommuity #lgbtsupporter

#equity #equityandinclusion #allyship #ally

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