national coming out day
Today is National Coming Out Day. N.B. the wikipedia page was vandalized previously and has now been restored.
In 1991, when I was 15 years old I started coming out of the closet. I had seen the movie “Paris Is Burning” and realized that if they felt comfortable in their skin, I could too.
I’ve always known I was gay. I hung out with the girls and talked about the boys constantly. But I didn’t learn the word for it until around the age of 6 or 7. Somewhere in there I realized that all the names I was being called in school were true.
Indeed, I am a faggot. I am a homo. I am gay.
But I’m not only gay. I’m an artist, a dreamer, a friend, a lover, an enemy, a DJ, a DBA, a queer podcaster, a Greek-American, a cook, a Chicagoan, a photographer, a musician, an employee of one of the best queer publications ever, an employee of one of the best investment banks ever, the son of both an incredible man and woman, a brother to two sisters, the owner of two cats, a free spirit, and someone who is falling harder than he should for someone else.
Gay doesn’t define me. It’s just part of my definition.