Watching coming out stories on YouTube really helped me put my feelings and experience into context, but I wanted to see that it’s actually like to tell someone you’re gay.When I started to come out to friends and family, I decided to film it so I could create the film I wanted so badly to see. That became a feature-length documentary called COMING OUT. It’s a raw look at how an entire family adjusts that also shows what happens after telling someone you’re gay.

The “gay community” terrified me before I started talking to LGBTQ folks. I’m a pretty shy person, so I haven’t gone out to experience the community enough for me to draw generalities that aren’t superficial. No matter what scope you look at, from the larger LGBTQ community to smaller communities within each of those letters, there is an enormous diversity of people, especially here in New York.