Never really written down my coming out story... here it goes anyway!
It was a warm spring day in Australia... lol. Anyway, I went to a Catholic, private, all-girl school. I was in grade 9 walking down one of the hallways towards one of my mates. When I was a few metres away I realised I was checking her butt out.
Basically the thought "Holy shit, I'm gay" hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn't move or breathe for ages. Long story short, I repressed massively for a few months. In grade 10 (at tender age of 15

), on a camp, I decided to come out to two of my 'good' mates as bi. I figured that they'd tell everyone at our campsite, and by the end of the camp, the whole year level would know. I was totally right.
There were about 6 people from my year level that DIDN'T give me shit on a daily basis. I spent the next two years being bullied constantly and having notes shoved in my locker and things written on it. What made it worse was that I did P.E through to year 12, sand I had to put up with girls asking if I just did it to perve.
The only good thing that came out of it was that I told one of my grade 12 friends. After a while I got the courage to tell her that I liked her.
We dated for a year and are still good mates today.
It was really shit going through that kind of school with
everyone knowing about it... It was pretty much an open secret, and my homophobic little sister was at the same school, which made things even harder. Things got a bit better though, and a few girls from my year level and year levels below mine started coming to me and thanking me for coming out, and telling me that they hoped that they could one day. I was so lucky to have one teacher at school that had found me crying a few weeks after coming out. She made me come up to her office and tell her the whole story. She put a lot on the line for me by trying to get the school to agree to having some "homosexuality education" (I have NO idea what you'd call them!) sessions with my year level to try to make things easier for me. While the school said a flat no to that, she was there for me whenever I needed her to be, right up until I graduated.
I havn't come out to my family yet... I don't think I ever will. My dad would disown me as would my grand parents. They're pretty hardcore bigots on both sides- on one we're Orthodox and on the other we're Catholic, so I'm pretty screwed.
5 years later I have to say I'm lucky to have some amazing friends around me who don't really care who I want to date, or who I'm attracted to. I'm still yet to come out to most of them as gay though.
So many good things have eventually come out of me coming out. I'm a committed Catholic and I help run a youth group in my parish. A couple of months ago I had a 16 year old girl crying uncontrollably to me because she realised she was bi. The most rewarding thing that's happened to me in the 5 years since that camp to be able to help her through this. It's been worth everything I went through in high school. Plus, telling my friends has also given some of my more closed minded Catholic and Christian friends something to really think about, and they're starting to come around to "getting it".
I'm Steph, and that's my story
*bows*
*curtains close*
Tara: Sweetie, you wouldn't blow off class if your head were on fire.
Giles: We few... we happy few.
Spike: We band of buggered.
Willow: Tell me a story.
Tara: Okay. Once upon a time, there was, um... a kitty. She was very little, and she was all alone, and nobody wanted her.
Willow: This is a very upsetting story.