CAITLYN
COLORADO|SERIES 3
Growing up in Virginia, I was submerged in diversity constantly. I grew up around so many different people and so many different cultures that, for my early years of childhood, I knew I could be myself and no one would give me a second glance. All throughout middle school, girls talked about me behind my back and my self-esteem plummeted. The only things I thought about were “how can I not be noticed” and “what will they think of me if I do this?”. My whole life, I knew that I didn’t like boys, but I never considered that there was another option. I was twelve when I first started to put two and two together. My parents divorced when I was six, and I had to adjust to the fact that I now had two of everything, but I didn’t want to have two different coming-out’s. Plus, movies I had watched were always so dramatic and negative around the subject of coming out, so part of me thought this wouldn’t end well. I started small by telling a few not-so-close friends, just in case they left me I wouldn’t be too devastated, but none of them did. So I told more and more of my friends and family, little by little until all of my friends and immediate family knew. I soon realized how lucky I was to have such great support in my life, and I want others out there to know they have support too.
