With it being national coming out Day I thought it would be best to share something personal.
On this day last year I remember being a terrified girl trying to “straighten” myself out. I started partying with people who made me forget who I was and it felt so good to feel like everyone else, like I didn’t have the weight of this secret on my shoulders. I would look at myself in the mirror and not recognize that person and I would smile because I didn’t want to be that terrified little girl anymore. Until one night I completely stoped thinking and at 1:30 in the morning I was in a 4 car collision trying to forget who I was and that night I remembered.. (I was thankfully ok and so was everyone else involved) I look back realizing that I was so unhappy I couldn’t care less what could happens to me. I didn’t think about all the people I could of hurt but most importantly I didn’t care about risking my life, just so I could forget myself. I couldn’t take it that everyday I would hear people and see people online talk poorly of the lgbt community. I didn’t want to be apart of that I would tell myslef, “I’m not an abomination like the rest of them”. Oh how wrong and disgusting I was. I never took the time to educate myself about the community and I believed what people were telling me. I have never been more proud to be apart of this community then I am right now. That very next day I was invited to another party like nothing happened, I never returned their call. I promised myself I would never loose sight of my happiness and I will never compromise who I am just for others comfortability . I can now say I know exactly who I am, I am proud of who I am and no I am not publicly out but everyone I surround myself with knows who I am. I am Emily Brown and I’m proudly gay! To my fellow lgbt+ community members who are just beginning their journey, know that you are loved by so so many and never NEVER forget who you are! I’ve always known I was different but my journey truly started when I realized I was sexually attracted to girls at 13 years old. Almost 5 years later and it’s a crazy roller coaster that’s still just in the beginning!
This is a little comic I made about the journey I went through in discovering that I’m ace and coming out. It’s drawn in the same simple style I used for my hourlycomics, which is really only a step above thumbnails, but I wanted to go ahead and share it. At some point I plan to redraw it properly for my comic siteandTapastic account, and maybe even print it!
One thing about the comic’s timeline that I wanted to address… When I first came out as ace on social media last November, I actually did come out as demisexual. But since that time, I gained a greater understanding of both myself and the ace and aro spectrums, and realized that demiromantic ace was a much more accurate fit for me.
In the months that followed my coming out as ace on social media, I slowly began coming out to close family and friends in real life. I was worried about how the people closest to me would react, but it’s gone pretty well so far!
I made this comic to address the doubts, questions, and confusing aspects of myself that made it so hard to understand or explain how I felt before I found the ace community. I especially wanted to represent those who, like me, didn’t realize they were ace for years because they were misinformed or didn’t even know it was an option… who fall into the gray area of the ace spectrum or aren’t sure how to define their asexuality… who worry about whether they’re “ace enough” because they’re gray ace, sex favorable, or both. I hope this comic helps any fellow aces who feel like they can relate to it! :)
(And BTW… any flames from discoursers about my support for ace inclusion in the LGBTQIA+ community will be used to toast marshmallows and then deleted.) ;)
It’s National Coming Out Day, so I thought I’d give this comic a reblog! It tells the story of my journey of self-discovery, questioning, and coming out as demiromantic ace. :)
“What on Earth are you doing here?” Aziraphale whispered to the dirty man standing on the steps of his shop. He was wearing dungarees, for Heaven’s sake, and had a smudge of coal across a cheekbone.
There were other men nearby, shy and cautious in Soho, but they weren’t paying any mind to the bookseller or their companion chatting with said bookseller.
He smiled. “D'you remember when you encouraged the LGSM to donate to the Welsh miners back in December?”
“Well. December is a season of giving, so the encouragement didn’t need to be-”
Finnish Olympic swimmer Ari-Pekka Liukkonen, 24, has come out publicly as gay in reaction to anti-gay laws passed in Russia.
“I wanted to join the discussion in relation to Sochi, since it is a sad fact that the Russian gay law affects negatively Russian young people’s lives and infringes human rights in general, Ari-Pekka told the Finnish National TV Channel YLE’s "Sports Weekend” show on Sunday.
Liukkonen, who swam at the 2012 London Olympics, said he came out now because the issue was not being widely discussed by the Finnish sports media. He also described the emotional toll of staying closeted.
“In the long run it is tough. I always had to concentrate on thinking what I could say and what to leave unsaid,” he said.
Liukkonen was already out to his family and close friends and told his teammates last week. He said that while some of them were surprised, all were supportive and encouraged him to talk about the Russian laws in public.
Liukkonen is probably the biggest Finnish male athlete to come out while still active.
“I want to emphasize that this does not change me as a person in any way, but I’m still the same AP, who wants to swim the 50-meter freestyle free one day and set the world record,” he said. “I want to win the Olympic gold medal in world record time.”
Hat tip to our good friend Finneye, who provided translation for this story.
