Character is king.
When you think of stories that you've read, it's characters that you remember.
Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins, Dorian Gray, John Galt, Atticus Finch, Holden Caulfield, Randal Flagg, Ignatius J. Reilly, Ellen Ripley, Honor Harrington- a strong story hangs on strong characters.
Or flawed characters. Or characters being themselves.
Meeko- you are quite right. It is nobodies business but your own. It should be a persons individual choice to come out where, when, how and to whom they chose.
Since you've been away we have added a forum for young people thinking about coming out. As my "coming out" was about the worst possible, it's only fitting that I wrote it.
Welcome back, it's good to see you around again.
https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/topic/40002-thinking-about-coming-out/
Anyone that threatens to out you deserves a serious ass kicking. Any bastard that would out a minor needs to be set on fire.
When anyone outs a person, they are taking something that doesn't belong to them. In this case it is a very personal choice.
Outting a person is almost alway an act of malice with the intention of doing or causing harm. I see it as a form of assault.
Choosing to come out is always a risk. There are probably people in your life that you can't predict how they will respond. That is never a choice that another person has the right to make for you.
When I was outted at 13, it sure wasn't a choice I would have ever made for myself and it left scars and harmed people decades after the fact.
The only time outing a person is OK is when that person is a public actor (like a closeted politician or a celebrity) that uses their position to do harm to other GLBT people. To see more about ethical outting, check out When to Out People: A Guide to Nuking Hypocrites