The Obligatory National Coming Out Day Post

I'm a bad gay for not realizing that today is National Coming Out Day, or as people in my life like to call it, National A-DUUUUUH Day. I think that in a big city like Chicago, the 'coming out' aspect of NCOD is moot because there are so many men and women who are already out.

I really can't write about anything on NCOD that you haven't already seen or heard somewhere else. You've read that October 11 is a national day of awareness for the GLB.....T community that began in 1988 with a march on Washington by over 500,000 members of the GLB.....T community. You've read about how such an enormous burden is lifted from a man's or woman's shoulders when they come out of the closet. What you haven't read is a quirky little coming out story starring a pre-teen Filipino boy who was constantly bullied because he was so different and dressed kind of funny. Here we go!

I was an awkward little twelve-year-old with bad acne, long hair, and very uncool shoes that my mom bought from Payless because we didn't have a lot of money to throw around. I'd always dread going to school because of a certain young thug named Michael who would always make fun of something about me. I told my mom about how I was being bullied and ridiculed for my long hair or my cheap shoes and she advised me to agree with the bully. She said that when you agree with something that a bully says and show that it doesn't bother you, that it takes away their power and they'd leave you alone. That sounded reasonable, right?

The next time Michael came at me, he decided to throw out the ever fun F word that gays just love to hear:

"Hey FAGGOT! FAGGOT! Look at the FAGGOT with his long FAGGOT hair! Do you like to suck dick, FAGGOT?"

All my life, I was raised to believe that faggot meant gay and gay was bad. I knew that I was attracted to men and that I was gay, but I didn't want to be a bad person. Under extreme mental anguish at being mocked yet again by a popular schoolboy and partly following my mother's advice, I replied:

"Yeah. So?"

That was the beginning of many agonizing months of gay jokes from Michael and his friends. Following my mother's advice made things really bad during my school years, but it was actually an important step in my journey of self-discovery. There was a glimmer of truth behind my admission that day and I wouldn't completely figure myself out until years later, but it was still important.

Hmm... there was a lesson in there somewhere. Oh yeah, Michael now looks like shit and I look fabulous.