The Ins and Outs of Coming Out

If you were to ask me about my sexuality now, I'd immediately tell you what I identify as, as well as having a few pithy nicknames for it. (Example: Oh, I'm an equal opportunity employer.) However, it hasn't always been this way. Coming out to my family was a much longer and more awkward process.

My mother was the first to know, and like all serious conversations, it happened in the car. I don't know about other families, but most really serious revelation conversations happen in the car. I came out to my mom at 14 in the parking lot of Friendly's, I kid you not. Looking back at it now, it seems like something out of a movie: me and my mom sitting in the parking lot, me turning to her and saying I had something to tell her. Her response was one of tentative acceptance, saying she needed some time to think about it. She's 100% supportive now.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve my senior year of high school. My sister and I  are driving home from church. We're at a stop light and I turn to her and say, "Sarah, I'm bisexual." Good thing we were stopped at the time, because she turned to me and said with shock, "Really? But you're so boy crazy." I remember laughing a little.

Telling my dad was the much more dramatic, sit in the living room on opposite pieces of furniture kind of scenario at the end of high school. The jury's still out on how he feels. He pretty much ignores it. I've come to accept the fact that until I actually bring a girl home, it's kind of a non-issue for him.

Moral of the story: Make sure the car is parked. You don't want your family driving off the road when you come out. Coming out to people might seem like a momentous, impossible task, but it's not. Do it on your own schedule. The right people will be accepting of you.  

‎"Is coming out as bisexual easier than coming out as homosexual?"

I kid you not -- that was a question on C's "Sexual Identity Across the Lifespan" exam. And I kind of went into a frenzy over Facebook on her status when I found out.

First of all, the question was NOT open-response -- no essay, no paragraph crammed into a too-small space. It was multiple choice. I mean, how can someone predetermine right and wrong answers to such an incredibly subjective question? Did you not think that this question was subjective?

Oh, but let's look at the options C's class was given ... As well as C could recall: (A) Yes, because their parents have hope that they may become straight. (B) Yes, because of reactions and stereotypes. (C) No, because their parents have hope that they may still become straight. (D) No, because of reactions and stereotypes.

I have a few discrepancies with these answers.