I'm gay and don't want to patronize bigots. Thanks, Supreme Court - Los Angel Tim

Contents:

• I WAS MARRIED WH 2 KIDS WHEN I REALIZED I’M GAY
• "I REALIZED I WAS GAY": MEN WHO CAME OUT LATER IN LIFE ARE SHARG WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR THEM TO REVEAL THAT TTH AND LIVE AUTHENTILLY
• HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM GAY? SIGNS YOU ARE GAY
• HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY
• I ASKED GUYS WHEN THEY FIRST KNEW THEY WERE GAY
• 7 PEOPLE SHARE THE MOMENT THEY REALIZED THEY WERE GAY
• LETTERS TO THE EDOR: I’M GAY AND DON’T WANT TO PATRONIZE BIGOTS. THANKS, SUPREME COURT

I WAS MARRIED WH 2 KIDS WHEN I REALIZED I’M GAY

How AIDS shattered the silence about gay liv.

There’s a price of admissn for g out as gay later life.

"I REALIZED I WAS GAY": MEN WHO CAME OUT LATER IN LIFE ARE SHARG WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR THEM TO REVEAL THAT TTH AND LIVE AUTHENTILLY

I kept wag for the moment where I would realize I was no longer gay so I uld put a halt to everythg. I was nsumed by the p my stomach – the shame of endg my marriage bee I was gay was like luggg a sandbag over my shoulrs and havg a rock my stomach at the same time. I wasn’t sure how to tell my nservative, Geia-born and bred parents that their former pageant queen dghter was endg her marriage bee she is gay.

I wasn’t brave enough to actually say the words – the label of beg gay or a lbian was too much for my soul to bear at the time – so I sent her a text msage, “I am not straight. Democratic printial ndidate Pete Buttigieg – who, like me, is his late 30s and, like me, me out publicly jt a few years ago – put this way: “It’s hard to face the tth that there were tim my life when, if you had shown me exactly what was si me that ma me gay, I would have cut out wh a knife. There was such a big part of me that did not want to be gay.

I thk you’d be hard-prsed to fd a gay person over the age of 30 who hasn’t felt this way.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM GAY? SIGNS YOU ARE GAY

When I found out earlier this month, along wh the rt of the world, that one of my favore actors, Kal Penn, is a fellow gay man and now engaged to his long-time partner, I was so happy that he was openly livg his tth. "I realized I was gay last year, after 36 years durg the lockdown. After seeg a gay guy I uld see myself , I started to qutn myself more.

I me out as bisexual at 44 after my stepson me out as gay at 11 years old. "I moved to Ireland jt before the referendum that legalized gay marriage. Once the untry around me changed and I started seeg more gays the muny, felt safer, and I felt more fortable to e out.

I'd fantasize about men and watch gay porn.

HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY

Part of me felt rponsible for her ath, as if beg bi or gay and my feelgs of regret somehow ed .

I ASKED GUYS WHEN THEY FIRST KNEW THEY WERE GAY

I also realized that the label of ‘gay’ ma more sense for me than ‘bi. But when I moved to California and saw more gay people, then I really started to realize . I gus that's the pot I f the fn of 'gay' rather than bi.

7 PEOPLE SHARE THE MOMENT THEY REALIZED THEY WERE GAY

I have a lot of stori about folks who were homophobic but me around to acceptg me and honorg me for beg a gay man, once they got to know me beyond what I do bed. In the meantime, I kept watchg gay porn but wouldn't accept and felt guilty after jerkg off to . I me out to my wife many moons ago but took a long time to realize that prayg the gay away wasn’t workg.

LETTERS TO THE EDOR: I’M GAY AND DON’T WANT TO PATRONIZE BIGOTS. THANKS, SUPREME COURT

I’m a good place right now and share my home wh gay iends, as well as adult children. I basilly created my own gay muny. "I fally started serly qutng my early 40s and quickly realized I was gay.

Pl the ‘80s was not a particularly good time to be gay — I thk fear of AIDS was possibly one thg that had me nial. I wonr if I'd accepted I'm gay when I was 20, if thgs would have been much different.