I never really had to come out of the closet, to be quite honest. When I was in Highschool I ran track and cross country all four years. Of course no one knew that I was gay up until my junior year, however it was mostly speculation within my small close circle of friends. They started doing some investigative work into my very personal life and kind of figured it out. When they asked me if I was gay, I didn't really deny it, although I was extremely defensive at first. After I let the sting of my wounds disappear, everything was totally normal.
The summer before my senior year started I started dating my first boyfriend, which lasted until the final months of the school year. We both decided that we wouldn't hide that we were together or dating but we wouldn't start screaming it down the halls either. If people asked, we would tell them the truth. Everyone was really cool about it - the football team even came up to me one day when I was walking in from track practice and told me they supported us. It was the strangest thing.
I was never really deemed as a flamboyant gay so I think that helped a lot. The only people who seemed upset over finding out that I was gay were my parents. My mother cried and my dad looked kind of ghostly. Neither one of them admitted to being upset but I come from a family that wears their emotions on their face and it was kind of easy to tell, especially with my mom.
One of the hardest parts about accepting the fact that I was gay to myself, was seeing all of the overly flamboyant gay boys in school. It was hard to categorize myself with someone like that because at the time - I had nothing in common with them and they were picked on all the time by everyone BECAUSE of the fact that they displayed themselves in a manner that was uncommon. Which is why I understand where Tet was coming from when he initially made his first reply but I think some of us took it out of context. Accepting yourself takes more time for some people and I think that when you aren't completely out of the closet, it's a little bit different than being in. Not saying that's true for everyone but I just think that everyone should sit, listen and be enlightened rather than jumping the gun. There's nothing to gain from that and after all, we are all on the same boat, aren't we?