I am thinking just a little bit this evening about who I am and especially where I grew up. If I had it to do over again, by that I mean the coming out process, would it be easier or hard for me?
That is definitely a tough question to answer. In some ways yes, in a lot of way no. If I looked at it from the frame of mind of the place I grew up in, I think it wouldn’t be as easy. Knowing the conservative nature of a place like Lee County, Virginia, I don’t think it’s gotten any better now. Trust me, I’ve heard enough from the few people I speak to that still live there.
To put it simply, I wouldn’t have done it any differently then or now. I am who I am for very good reason and things happened the way they happened because they were meant to.
Why do I find myself feeling like this in the first place? Because I am scared for any gay, bi, trans or whatever youths that may be growing up there. I yearn for them to have it easier than I and others did… because an environment such as that can be very hazardous to their fiber and being. I know, that’s not a good thought to think but it’s an unfortunate reality of the current climate that this country is in.
Progress has to keep going forward in the face of all adversity. It just has to. We have to make it have to.