Being gay in school - tell us your story

What is it like being gay in school these days?

I'm not a great representation of the masses, as I go to a highschool of around 400 kids, all of which come from various surrounding small towns. Overall, it's a very old-fashioned community, and it's not full of progressive thinkers. It's quite common to hear homophobic and racist comments/conversations around here.

I'm not technically out, but I definitely don't come across as your average straight human Because of that, the majority of people steer clear of me, and the ones that don't usually just stick to harmless stuff like shoves or muttering "eww" as they pass me Although those are probably due to my appearance and atrocious personality. I do get the occasional derogatory term, but it's all in good fun.

Funnily enough, I ended up being good pals with the first guy to ever call me a slur

 

Well for me I didn't even know I was gay in high school, but I did occasionally hear things that seemed to rag on homosexuals and make it seem like being gay was a negative thing. Especially after I did things that weren't exactly what everyone else did although I thought every other guy wanted to be really close to other guys.

 

Hey man! Sounds a lot like my own high school experience, being closeted at a catholic school. I'm even from Michigan too. Wish I would've known about this site back then, it's a great resource. Shoot me a message some time if you ever feel like venting about all that bullshit, I understand what you're going through bro.

 

I was a high school freshman when I started coming out. I got a chance to start off with a clean slate and thought coming out was the solution. Once I told my friends, they either were like "OMG That's awesome for telling us!" "Proud of you, man." or "I knew it."

My confidence level had a boost because people took it well when I came out. It eventually led me to just not care anymore. From sophomore year to now, I make it obvious, pretty much by saying "Ooh that guy is hot" or "I'm trying to find a bf" just once in a while. A lot of my friends know that I'm gay to the point where if someone asks, they get that "Are you stupid" look.

 

At my old school, coming out as gay was pretty much social suicide. There were rumors about me being gay before I even knew I was gay. Anyone who was at all different was gossiped about. I was very different. The first time someone actually asked me about my sexual orientation, I whimped out and said that I was completely straight. At that time, I definitely knew that I liked girls. After that, people would ask me every once in a while if I was gay and I would always I lie to avoid showing the insecureness that allowed me to lie in the first place.

For 11th grade, I went to a new, much more progressive school. It was unreal. People were actually individuals! I learned that many of the girls were openly bi. It was strange; I had never seen anyone completely comfortable with their nonstraight sexuality before. I began to get more comfortable with myself. I joined emptyclosets. I had an awesome conversation with this girl about sexuality in which I came out to her as a panromantic lesbian. She said that at this school, being queer is accepted so much that it is not even a big deal for her to learn that someone is queer! I got the courage to ask her to prom and we went to prom together! We both had a lot of fun. That also resulted in pictures being posted on FB, so now I am out on FB. I bought my first piece of pride jewelry and wore it to school one day. I went to my school's GSA one day and it was a whole classroom full of people! After just one year at this new school, I feel so much more comfortable with myself. I am excited to go back to the same school next year!

Sometimes the grass really is greener, when you come from a place where it is drowned in chemicals.