Gay, Straight, Love, Don’t Hate

I’m gay, and I went to an all girls Catholic high school – the past 6 years were the best, and worst of my life (as expected at high school). As soon as I came out, and actually said “I’m gay,” so many people in my class stopped talking to me. Then I spiraled into depression, didn’t talk to anyone, made stupid mistakes, and honestly wasted months of my life being like that.

That’s where the friends I have now stepped in, they approached me in class, and asked if I wanted to hang out with them at lunch. Now we’re all best mates, they don’t freak out if I develop feelings for any of them, they make a joke of it – and I’m okay with that. But what’s worse is that teachers that I was really close with backed away, and that was the most screwed up thing about the whole situation. A 15 year old kid, coming to terms with their sexuality, heading into a downward slope of depression, anger and isolation, and they’re like “Hey, talk to me about class, and that’s it.”

But, last year, the senior class did a play to reflect their time at school, and my part (with the support of the amazingly awesome teachers) was to play “Boys Boys Boys by Lady Gaga” and replace the chorus with “Girls, Girls, Girls” … and the teachers who were all “Being gay is wrong” were not impressed. But hey, my school promoted individuality, that’s all I was doing, being myself!

The isolation and depression I felt when I came out and all of the above was insane, be yourself, stay strong, haters are out there, and they’re going to hate, but you are you. You’re beautiful and strong, and I can promise you, things will get better, just hang in there.