Legacy

It is 1995 and you are in middle school. You are just starting to notice that people are starting to date. You noticed the girls, but you also noticed the guys. You think this is normal. You have little crushes like everyone else. The difference is you have them on both boys and girls. You go through middle school hiding your crushes on the guys and pursuing the crushes on the girls. You have a few girlfriends in middle school.

You are now in high school. At first you hide your attraction to guys. Then you are searching YouTube and come across a lesbian couple telling their story. You are just amazed that they met in high school and came out together. You watch all their videos. You start looking for more content like this. At the time there were not many guys coming out online, so you just watch the lesbian couples. You connected with them. They help you figure out who you are.

In the 11th grade you decide it was time to come out. At first you only told your best friend. She was great about it. She accepted you for who you are. Then with her help you told your friend group. Most of them are fine with it. There were a couple that took them a while to come around, but they eventually did. You needed the support of your friends before you told your family.

When you are finally ready to tell your family you start with your mom. The way you chose to do it is with a letter. You decide this method because you had seen someone do it in one of the YouTube videos you watched. This worked for you because writing is how you communicate the important things with your mom. You write the letter and put it in the book your mom is reading. She reads it and puts her response in the book you are reading. You read it and are happy with the response. She is completely fine with it. She tells you she knew and are happy you finally came out.

The next step is telling the rest of your family. You were just a little worried about telling your dad only because he is older. You were not sure if he would have that old mentality that some people have. You really had nothing to worry about. You were surprised at how fast he embraced it. He actually bought flags, shirts, stickers, and anything associated with pride.

They told the other family members. I am surprised my aunt was OK with it. There is one that was not but that was to be expected of this person. They are prejudice and will never accept you. That is OK because you have plenty of people that accept you.

You came out during pride month. Which was cool because your parents started wearing the shirts and joining groups. It was so cool that they embraced it quickly and fully. Your city does not celebrate pride till October. Your birthday is in October as well. For your birthday that year you were surprised with an early gift. You are shocked your parents are taking you to your first pride parade. You had the best time ever. You and your parents learn a lot and are happy you and they are in a place where you are accepted. Through the weekend you are posting pics and messages on Instagram and your friends are commenting and liking your post.

At school you are not afraid to be who you are. You are out and proud. You are the first at your school that is openly out. By your senior year you had helped enough students come out that you formed a pride club at school. You have people that are simply curious, allies, or closeted and are afraid to come out attend your meetings. By the time you leave high school you have made a significant difference in the school and all the people you have helped. You leave the club in excellent hands. You have left a legacy at your high school.

You attend College in the city where the pride parade is held. To say the least you had a great college experience. You learned a lot and made great friends. Pride parades with your friends was different from the one with your parents. You joined as many groups as you could. It was a great college experience.

It has been 10 years since you finished college with your master’s in psychology. You have your own practice focused on LGBTQIA+ youth. You are married with a 14-year-old boy. Your boy is starting high school. He is going to your old high school. Your son came out as gay at age 10. He has heard stories about what you did in high school. To see the changes in reality is something totally different. He walked into pride flags and rainbows everywhere. In the years since she graduated the school has embraced and ran with what you started. The school is open minded and has a no bullying policy. If there is bullying, they are immediately expelled. They have been voted best high school in America.

When your son starts high school, you decide it is time for you to do more. You talk to your partner and decide you want to start a YouTube channel. You want to help people come out like they helped you come out when you were young. You tell your coming out story, first kiss, first relationship. You can go a step further because you went to school for this.

You end up growing your channel quickly and within six months you have two million subscribers. You are helping millions of people. You help them with links they can go to and shelters if they need them. You have done all you can to help the LGBTQIA+ community. You have passed on a legacy to your son that he can follow and build upon.