Coming Out Day.

Today, 11th October, marks National Coming Out Day and the theme for 2013 is that "Coming Out Still Matters".

National Coming Out Day began 25 years ago as part of the Human Rights Campaign and it's aim is to celebrate people coming out as bisexual, lesbian, gay or transgender. It is about encouraging these people to come out and live their lives openly, without the fear of what people might say or do to them because of their sexuality.

Statistics have shown that people who are 'in the closet' are much more likely to become suicidal or even attempt suicide than those who have come out and are living their lives as the person that they truly are.

A lot of homosexual people tend to feel trapped and unhappy in their lives as they are living it as a person that they are not. They also find that they can't find love or are running away from it because they don't want people to find out the gender that they are really attracted to.

Coming out is such a difficult task and I speak from experience when I say that, as I am bisexual myself. I told my Mom that I thought I was bisexual when I was just eleven years old. She told me to stop being 'disgusting' and that I would grow out of it because it was just a phase. I never did grow out of it. At seventeen, I told her again and she told me she didn't want to know. I'm nearly 21 now and we've never spoken about it since.

It can be hard for people to accept, especially if they're in older generations who were brought up to believe that homosexuality was wrong. Do not let them bring you down. If your friends and family love you, then they will love and accept you whether you're heterosexual or homosexual. They love you for the person that you are, not the gender that you prefer to be with.

There is still so much stigma attached to being homosexual and I don't understand why. In my opinion, love is love - no matter what the gender.

Sources: HRC | The Journal

Clare
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