BRITTANY: It’s like a cleansing that you finally get to be honest about what’s going on inside of you because it can destroy you to just keep it all in.
ANDREW: I was just always so worried about hurting the people that I loved and disappointing my parents.
JOSIAH: I was shaking, and I couldn’t say it right away. The words could not come out of my mouth.
BRITANNY: He asked me if I was dating anyone, and I said, “Yeah!” And he said, “Oh, that’s great. What’s his name?” And I said, “Kate!”
ANDREW: My parents came out to visit and we were staying at the hotel at Disneyland, you know, the happiest place on earth. So I thought, “What better place to break the news!” My mother immediately burst into tears. I said, “Well, would it be better if I was on drugs?” And she said, “Well, at least drugs can be fixed!”
RENAE: I actually came out in front of my whole town. I’m from a town of about 4,000 people, a little mountain town in Wyoming. We’re about to walk out, and I peek into the auditorium and it is full. And I strutted out, with my date on my arm and they called our names and we got a standing ovation. I do remember looking over at my date and being like, “That went okay! That was fine.”
NOAH: I’m a junior in high school. I came out when I was a sophomore in high school. But not only am I gay; I was in love probably, a little crush. And it’s so weird how it translated into hate so easily.
CAMERON: So I decided to tell my mom. I wrote her a letter. She didn’t talk to me for like three months. “You had your chance” is what I told my mom. I said, “You had your chance to live your life. Now this is my life,” and that is what I told her. “If you don’t want to be a part of that, then that’s your loss.”
ANDREW: From there, it was just months and months and months of them slowly getting used to it.
CAMERON: And I prayed for my mom, I prayed that she would come around, that she would change the way she thought, and she did! Eventually.
ANDREW: It has now been eleven and a half years that Jason and I have been together. My parents just helped us buy our first house six months ago.
JOSIAH: “Are you happy? Are you happy?” She just–that’s all she made sure of. And I’m really, really thankful for that.
BRITANNY: If I could tell my closeted self something from my out self, I would say to not wait until someone else drives you to do it, that you should do it for you.
ANDREW: Don’t let anyone force you into it. You have to do it when you’re ready.
RENAE: There’s nothing wrong with you.
NOAH: When it’s ready to happen, I feel like it’ll happen.
ANDREW: It’s worth it, in the end.
