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Darius's Coming Out Story!

Submitted By: Darius
Date: 1/28/01

I've only told one person so far. But I've finally done it. I thought I'd share my story with you though it might be a bit boring). This site has been such a help.

January 22, 2001 — The Day My World Changed

Before I start there’s some background information. So here goes. Our debate team was at a tournament (relatively small team, only four people). Usually it was just us and our coach, but this time there was another guy that came with. At first I didn’t know who he was but eventually came to know him. Jay his name was, a student at a local college who had come with to help judge debate rounds. He was cool guy; fun to talk with, and nice looking too. Melissa, my debate partner, who, were I straight, would be mildly attractive, was also getting to know Jay. We had another round coming up so I left to get the materials set up while she stayed behind a few minutes and finished talking with him. When she got to the room the round was in I made an offhand comment of her talking with a hot guy in a dark alley. The rest of that tournament was uneventful (although we did break semifinals).

Continuing on, our school held a speech tournament on the twentieth and there at the tournament was Jay, once again helping judge. We got to talking again and somehow it came up that sometime after the debate tournament he was talking to Melissa and was told of my referring to him as hot. At that point I thought he knew, but I didn’t panic or anything. After all, from what I knew of him so far he seemed like a tolerant and understanding person. The conversation progressed a bit and eventually me guess had been confirmed.

Then on Monday the twenty-second we had debate practice. There I met up with Melissa who apparently had talked with Jay since that past Saturday. She said that because of the conversation on Saturday Jay was wondering if I was gay. After practice it was just me and Melissa in the hallway and so we finished the conversation. She mentioned Jay’s observations and as if something from beyond was controlling me I told her, “Yes, I am. I am gay.” At that point I’m feeling detached and a bit lightheaded I don’t remember exactly what she said after that but the next thing I remember we continued down the hall and she asks me how I know. Once again I don’t remember what happened after that. Melissa was a real accepting person and she even told me that one of her aunts was gay. Next as we ventured through the halls she asked how long I had know. Answer? I consciously knew since around the beginning of the school year in September. But when I look back farther in my life I realized that I had these feelings for a while. And that was that, she left and I went to my locker. All the while feeling better that I finally got it out.

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