Coming Out

What helped you when you were trying to figure out who you are. What videos did you watch on YouTube? What books did you read? What TV shows did you watch?

I am going to talk about several things and whether they help or maybe hurt people that are question who they are and whether they should come out. The first one is a new one to me and the only one that may hurt someone. They are the WLW kissing my best friend videos. Everyone you watch the girls getting kiss have no push back. Some are really surprised but kiss anyway. I think I have only seen one where there was push back and they did not kiss the person. It brings up the question of whether each girl knew their friend was gay and when they went for a kiss, they were ok with it or are girls just more accepting of their best friend kissing them. Where it could hurt is it gives the impression that if you are a girl and try to kiss your best friend that she will be ok with it. That may not always be the case. I think the better videos would be the confessing you like your best friend ones. They show a more realistic response. Some end up kissing others do not. I think the best one I watched was the song was playing and the best friend realized what was happening and put her fist in the air like yes finally. If you are a guy and look for these kinds of videos I would advice against it. The guy ones are just them playing with each other. Most are not real.

When I was questioning who I am the first thing I looked up on YouTube was the label I thought I was. In my case that was gay. Those videos help. What helped more than those where finding couples that had their own channel. In my case the first people I watched was Sarah and Rachel. Let me stop here and say something right quick. Yes, I am a male watching lesbians for help. It does not matter your gender. If you find someone that helps you figure out who you are watch them. They really helped me. Watching their coming out videos, their videos on religion, just watching them be together all of it helped. The second couple that really helped me came to YouTube later and they are Paige and Holly. They brought with them their coming out stories and what really helped was them talking about mental health. I want to say that it is ok to continue to question who you are. I have and I think I have finally found out who and what I am.

For TV there have been a lot in recent years. For my generation I think the best example would be Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the character Willow. There are two more major shows that had LGBTQ characters in them. They are Glee and Pretty Little Liars. If these shows helped you come out, I am happy for you.

I haven’t read any LGBTQ books. There are a lot of them out there if you are interested in books.

There is one last category you can maybe find help on. That is Twitch. You must look for representation, but it can be found on Twitch.

Last, I want to say that no matter what method or platform you use. I hope you can find what you are looking for. It is getting a lot easier to find information about your gender or orientation.