As most of you know, unless you’ve been living under a rock since you’ve known me, I’m gay. This is not me coming out, that was done years ago. This is me proudly accepting who I am. I have known I was gay since the 4th grade, at the time I didn’t know what it was or meant or anything like that, I just knew I was different. I slowly slowly started to understand what exactly was different about me. I liked women. Seventh grade I was comfortable enough with myself to accept it alone. I decided to confide in a couple of people, some of whom I shouldn’t. I was outed by people I thought were my friends, to people I was not comfortable with. Soon after the bullying began. It was endless, it was terrible, and it lead to the worst years of my life. I was miserable. The few friends I have didn’t help. The school certainly didn’t help. I refused to talk to my family because I did not want to out myself to them. It sucked, plain and simple. But I held strong to who I was. I grew older, we all grew older, and matured. People began to accept it, and me. I was okay with myself and other people started to be too. Others began to come to me with question or confide in me about their own sexualities. This helped me accept myself more and be proud of myself. Being a lesbian and growing up in a small community with very limited resources, some small minded people, and very few people like me was hard. It’s taken years of work on myself and growth and maturity to get to the point I am at now. There are still times today where I get down and I hurt and I question why I’m like this. I wonder why things couldn’t be different, but then I realize I would not be the same person without this piece of me and without my history. There are a plethora more times where I am damn proud to be who I am. Because who I am is an amazing young person. I love myself. Those who matter to me love me just the way I am. I know there is nothing wrong with me. I also know some May disagree, but those opinions are moot to me. As Dr. Seuss once said “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” This post is not for me to come out. This post is for all of the LGBT kids who can’t come out because they know they won’t be accepted. This is for all the ones that have come out to unsupportive friends and family. This post is for all the ones who we lost before they could come out. This is for the ones who haven’t accepted themselves yet, or haven’t discovered that piece of them. This post is for the LGBT kids who need it most. This is for the ones who need to hear “IT GETS BETTER.” This is for you guys. I am Sam Mercier and I am proud to be gay. Happy National Coming Out Day!
