Coming out might be the biggest moment of a gay person’s life. No matter which country you live in, it always takes courage to tell people who you love that you are gay, that you are different from what they might expect you to be. Many people have struggled and suffered. Many people are in the closet. A few of my models I met and photographed are like that. Some are afraid of upsetting their families. Some hide themselves out of fear that their communities won’t accept them and even might prosecute them. Some chose the hard way to flee from their home countries. Having grown up in a country like China, I know how lonely it can be to be gay and how heavy the pressure can be. We all know the phrase, “you only live once”. How you live your life is finally a choice that you make. It can be extremely painful to make that choice, but it is worth to make the right choice.
18th May is the Belgian Pride in Brussels, just the day after the international day against homophobia, transphobia and biphobia. It’s always an occasion of joy and pride. I read a news article on national paper with the question: Is it still necessary to have the Pride in Belgium since it’s already been 40 years. It’s true that homosexuals have a lot of equal rights as heterosexuals now. According to a recent survey, Belgium is at the No.2 place of the best counties for gay rights in the world. However, we can’t forget there are still LGBT+ people who have difficulties (personal or/and social) simply because they are gay. Maybe one day the Pride won’t be necessary anymore when we don’t have to come out anymore.
Juri, the creator of Cartoon.Called.Life, posted this comic on his instagram. We should damn feel proud of ourselves. Being gay is not easy and we are owning it! What can be more empowering than our coming out experiences? Yes, some experiences have happy endings and some, with tears, but they have made us stronger! So, I asked my instagram followers to share their coming out stories. Here are their stories. I am proud of every single of them!
—- by Chris
