the way some of y'all react to shane and scott's anxieties about coming about makes me wonder how many of y'all have ever actually been really, truly closeted, lol. I live in the us south. I'm solidly 97% sure my parents will be at worst A Little Weird About It whenever I come out, though I also know I have some extended family members who are going to be decidedly unsupportive. I'm out to my social circles and my sister, and while I'm not out at work, I also don't intend to ever be out at work except maybe someday to my immediate supervisor, and that only because he's a friend, lol. just not any of my cworkers' business; I haven't talked about the men I've dated to them either.
all this to say I'm under about 2% of the pressure of these fictional dudes whose entire livelihoods are tied to a very homophobic sport where coming out is likely to result in fiscal, physical, and emotional repercussions. but I still get it.
is it because you guys live in places like seattle and san francisco and nyc, where things are by no means perfect but at least the culture isn't one of locked lips and avoidance? is that it? because I met an internet friend from denver at six flags in atlanta once and spent half the time she was blithely chattering away glancing over my shoulder to see who was near us, and nothing she was saying would have even implicated ME. another time I went on a date downtown with a girl I really liked and was nervous in the back of my head that this would be one of the three days a year my parents also decided to get out of the house, and we'd run into them. my parents are not going to be bad about this, but it terrified me anyway.
no, it's not always rational, and yes, it's worth pushing through that fear to live the life you actually want to live. but some of you don't even seem to understand why these characters are scared in the first place, and the gulf between y'all's experiences and mine is so unknowably vast that I can't even process it
