Coming Out

Photo courteously by counseling.uw.edu

Coming out of the closet to parents can be the hardest thing any gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individual can do. The possibility of rejection can be too unbearable for some to even consider. Of course with these obstacles, other LGBT people came out of the closet about their sexuality and never looked back ever since.



Colton Young and Sabreen Abdullah are among many LGBT individuals who decided to come out of the closet about their sexual orientation. They both never regret stepping out and showing their true self’s to their family and friends.

For Colton Young, it was after high school when he decided to tell his best friend his kept secret about being gay. He said that she already knew and was cool about it. Young decided it was time to show his true colors since he didn’t really care what people had to say about him anymore.

“No one is paying my bills so why do I care about what people think of me,” said Young.

He doesn’t regret not coming out earlier since he feels like he came out at the right time. In fact, he believes that he receives more respect due to him being honest with himself.

“The best part is no labels. You don’t have to be conformed to labels…Be who you are and you’ll get respected,” said Young.

Sabreen Abdullah had a different approach to coming out to her dad about being a lesbian. She had a conversation with her dad about a teen who committed suicide from being bullied for his sexuality. Later on Abdullah texted her dad and confessed to being a lesbian.

Her father took it well and months later Abdullah’s mother found out. Her mom isn’t really fine with it but the father is. If Abdullah would have known how they would have reacted, she would have come out to them earlier.

For the ones who want to come out, Abdullah advices to talk to your parents about any gay issue and see how they would react.

“Ask how they feel about it and decide whether or not you want to come out,” said Abdullah.