Reece

Next up in our series* of coming out stories, Reece shares his experience of coming out with a little help from his nan! ?

I came out twice! Once drunk to my mum then again when she asked did I mean it. Thankfully when my nan found out, she told everyone else and saved me having to do it. I was worried about telling my friends in case they didn’t like me because of it so I told my best mate first and he was fine with it.

Thinking back, even though I was worried, I remember saying to myself “I’m not going to change who I am as a person and I wasn’t going to let anyone’s negative opinions annoy me”.

My family were supportive and my nan said “I could have told you before you knew ?”. Thankfully I didn’t have a negative experience coming out and I’m proud of my sexuality. Pride is my first year anniversary with my boyfriend and I’m looking forward to celebrating with him. If I had advice for a young person coming out, it would be if they care that you have a different sexuality to them then they aren’t your mates! Oh and do it sober! ?

Reece

If you are struggling with sexuality or just need to talk to someone you can find some useful organisations in our get help page

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* Led by You have collected some of our young people’s coming out stories for #BelfastPrideWeek that they kindly agreed to share with everyone along with some advice for other young people who might be in this stage of their life.