It used to be a challenge to socialize in gay scenes because I was not 21 yet. Now that I’m 21 that challenge is over!

I first came out through a very close friend at the time, during my senior year of high school. She made me feel comfortable to explore my sexuality.

I don’t have much expertise in the gay culture of NYC. I’m just now beginning to live in it as a 21 year old. What I can say though is everyone wants to feel free and comfortable living their lives socially, just as any straight person.

I just wish that from that we could open a more productive dialogue where we aren’t afraid to acknowledge the ways that being gay is still sometimes difficult. There’s this idea I think that if you admit that you’re struggling with being “out” or just being “gay,” you’ll be reminded that the solution is just to act “less gay,” and restrict any “gayness” of yours to the bedroom. But to be “gay” means more than sex. I feel like nobody wants to admit that but it’s still true. I mean, there’s a reason we all know what “act less gay” means. I feel like I notice these things because I’ve been “out” for so long now, like I came out to everybody when I was 14, so I’ve grown up with that, I don’t really ever think of myself as being gay. When I first came out I know that I did but that was so long ago I hardly even remember coming out or what it was like before I came out. Everybody told me I was gay before I came out, I was just one of those kids, and, again, it’s not like they were talking about my sex life because I was a little kid.