Among the people you’ve known for a long time, who is the person who’s changed the most over the years? Was the change for the better?
There are a number of people that I know that have gone through significant changes in their time – marriage, divorce, kids, deaths, sickness and injuries etc and they’re all and amazing test of character and resilience, however there is one type of person I’d particularly like to focus on…
This post goes out to all of you whom have found the strength and courage to come to terms with, and finally accept and acknowledge their sexuality, whether it be gay, straight, bi, queer, intersex, transgender, etc.
In a world dominated by heterosexuality, and so closely tied with religion, for anybody to come out as ‘gay’, or anything other than ‘heterosexual’ is something that takes quite a lot of courage and self-acceptance.
People are bullied and put down; kicked out of home; they lose friends and family; destroy families; and it can generally be quite emotionally hard, especially when you decide to accept who you truly are, only to then find yourself on the outer with no support network or anybody to help you. Granted, that’s quite a generalisation, however, it’s not something that is made up. It’s merely some examples of the more extreme reactions that people can get simply because they decide to share something so personal. On the flip side, there are the people whom get so worked up about telling other people their sexuality, and anticipate it being a big dramatic issue… Only for it to then turn out to be nothing; a complete non-event.
Recently, a famous Aussie swimmer had a big interview about his career and his life etc, but the whole media circus revolved around purely around the fact that he was going to admit, on national tv, that he was a homosexual.
Now, previously, I would have wanted to watch that, as he is quite an iconic Australian sportsperson, and is a household name, however, once the media began to trivialise the whole interview by focusing just on his coming out, I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. Admittedly, I was one of those people commenting on it saying things like ‘who cares? We all know he’s gay!’, but regardless of whether it’s public knowledge, a lot of people feel the need to publicly confirm it as some form of validation.
It would seem that there were a number of people who shared the same viewpoint which was met with a complete tirade from people all across social media. Yes, it’s great for him to be able to finally stop living a lie and stop denying who he truly is and be comfortable in his own skin, but the way it was handled was truly appalling. Perhaps, one of the worst kept secrets, even despite his claims of being attracted to women in his novel… Anybody with half a brain knew that it was crap.
I just hope that he’s able to find some peace now within his life and allows himself to finally find love and be happy. I also hope that he’s able to inspire others to do the same and show that regardless of the circus that might be created as a result, it’s not the end of the world. There will always be people out there who have gone through the same thing, and people who will always support you. If that’s not something you think is a quality of those around you, you just need to find the right people. That might mean changing your social circles or joining a support group etc.
And of course, if you, or somebody you know is having a hard time, take a moment and call the relevant help line in your area whether it be Kids Help Line, a Mental Health / Counselling service or similar, just talking about it can make things so much easier.
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