When I was younger, society always taught me that when young ladys grow up they should go and marry a nice man. As I was growing up people always asked me about boys or if I liked any boys yet. My answer would always be no and I just thought that was how all girls answered that question. As I got older though I realized that I wasn't exactly like other girls my age. I watched as other girls would talk about boys and talk about how they would want to marry a boy one day. I never shared that same interest as them. One day in fourth grade a couple of girls asked me if I liked a boy, I told them no and in response one of them said “ew are you like gay or something”. That is how I found out that I didn't just have to like boys.

After that encounter I didn't really pay much thought to that subject again until 6th grade when I realized I had a crush on my girl best friend. I was initially freaking out about this since I didn't know if what I was feeling was normal for a best friend or not. It took me several days to realize that this was not a normal feeling. So I did some research about the word I heard two years prior to this. It didnt take me long to find out that I was gay and that I indeed had a crush on my best friend.

It didn’t take long for me to start coming out to my friends after that. I was mostly met with positive replies like “Thats cool, I support you”. I also found out that some of my friends were going through almost the same thing as me. Sadly I was met with some negative replies as well and I did end up losing a couple of friends. This didn't stop me though and I found many friends that supported me through everything.

Even though I had come out to my friends I still did not feel like coming out to my family as they are very religious and I did not know how they would take it. Sometime in 7th grade though my grandma found out that I had once liked a girl. She was furious and she yelled things like “You are going to go to hell for this!” or “All I wanted was a normal grandchild!”. I somehow convinced her that I will never like a girl again and that I was just confused. From that day forward I knew it would be awhile before I told my family that I was gay. 

I have had several ups and downs throughout my life and I have fought this battle for almost half my life, because of this I have learned many things. Being gay has taught me that not everyone is nice even though they might seem like they are, but you can still find people who will always support you. The people that have supported me throughout my life have helped me be who I am and they have helped me be proud of who I am and now I can proudly say that I am gay.