Paddy OConnell | 46 | London | Journalist & Broadcaster
|
I made coming out as complicated as possible.
I did it in stages, like I was performing some kind of strip tease. Off came one glove here - telling a friend - or another glove there - telling a stranger in a bar. Then, whoosh, my shirt would come off, and I'd tell my work mates. But when I finally had everything off - the Full Monty - and I'd told my family, my friends and random bus drivers, I received a note from a guy I'd known since we were both 13. "Dear Paddy" it said, ".... Bugger your sex life! I'll always be your friend." |
Friends later told me they'd known from when I was a teenager since I'd had lots of opportunities they thought I never took. (Except for Laura Jane, a 16 year old girl from whom I was surgically removed at the end of a school disco.)
I said I wished they'd told me, since I'd wasted a lot of time and emotional effort on the whole thing.
I said I wished they'd told me, since I'd wasted a lot of time and emotional effort on the whole thing.
"I grew up in a single parent family after my Dad died when I was 11.
I think this made me want to be a strong masculine kind of son, as loyal as possible to my family and my mum."
Of course, you can be gay and masculine and strong, but as a teenager I was baffled by the whole thing. I was lucky that I had friends who liked talking endlessly, and over the years, it all came out - like me. I think the first person I told was a married mate, and we both loved to stay up late at night, putting the world to rights, listening to music when everyone else had gone to bed.
It was a relief and I'm sure there were tears, but a lot of smiles. In the end, the whole thing took a few more years when a close family member came out to me, when I was living in America. I'd gone there partly to live with my boyfriend, but I gained a sense of freedom from the old worries about who I was.
It was a relief and I'm sure there were tears, but a lot of smiles. In the end, the whole thing took a few more years when a close family member came out to me, when I was living in America. I'd gone there partly to live with my boyfriend, but I gained a sense of freedom from the old worries about who I was.
"When I came out
|
It still amazes me how some straight people don't care at all, and helped me on my way, and others still get their knickers completely in a twist about it.
I support this website for giving different stories, and showing how there is no copy-paste way to be yourself in life. Thanks for reading my words and well done rucomingout for your website. Follow Paddy on Twitter - @paddy_o_c |
HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
