Being out at workplace dilemma

Thanks all for your replies and sharing your points of view, suggestions and experiences. I actually found them to be very encouraging, and some offer a perspective I did not consider.

I'm not really concerned about being discriminated against. My company is LGBT friendly, and its corporate policies are clear about that. There are few older than me openly gay men in my building but they hold higher positions, so no one is eager to say anything derogatory. They probably did not have any issues from coworkers. I don't know their stories, but suspect they were out before they joined the company though. (btw, my gaydar sucks!)

But there is a difference between being discriminated against and simply avoided -- maybe I shouldn't really care about it, as I’m not exactly the most sociable person out there in the first place, compliments of both being closeted for waaaay too long and my shy personality. I can’t say that anybody avoids me now, even though I do stay clear from those water-cooler conversations on Mondays (the rest of the week is fine ). Just as Calgary, I think I distanced myself from some people because if that.

Many of you pointed out to “be out” as opposed to “come out” at work. I definitely support the being out idea as a way of letting people know -- this is a very viable approach and I will stick with it. At the same time though I feel like I still need to “come” out to one or two more people including my boss - I feel like I owe him an explanation, but that has to do more with our friendship than anything else.

Definitely having a partner would help tremendously. I promised myself long time ago that if I ever get that lucky in life and found someone special, I would never hide him, or our relationship, from anybody. Ever. But since I don’t, the whole being out at work is so much more difficult to achieve.

Thanks again everybody for your support!