Recently, I decided to publicly announce to my friends and family that I am gay. The overwhelming amount of support and love I have received is phenomenal, and I cannot thank all of you enough for doing so. Before I came out, I was incredibly petrified that I would be rejected from my family and friends, and would end up alone. I am lucky. Some families do not accept their children, and end up resenting them, and in extreme cases, disowning them. This is for those kids. This is for those families. This is for the people who are terrified to be themselves.

I did not choose to be gay. Being gay is not something I, nor anyone else chose to become. I didn't just sit down one day and realize, "hey you know what, I'm going to be gay". There is absolutely no "choice" in your sexual orientation. I ask all of my straight friends and family, "when did you choose to like the opposite sex?" and they answer with "I'm not sure". That's because there was no choice. You started puberty, and started to get the warm feel-ys toward the opposite sex. That is the same case for me, except mine were toward men, not women.

I did not choose to be gay. Growing up in a society were being gay is not always accepted is the most frightening thing. I remember telling myself, "I am never going to tell anyone, this isn't true, I like girls" and for the longest time I really did believe that! I even dated women, but when you go through the public education system, with bullies and idiot kids calling names, harassing, and even physically fighting other kids whom are different than them, dating men is not really something you "do". I never felt like I was myself and I always knew that. I never felt the same as the other kids around me.

I did not choose to be gay. Another factor that contributed to me postponing my coming out was when the whole "that's so gay" saying was floating around. Now-a-days, you rarely hear that anymore, which is good. However, my middle school days were not like that. "That's so gay" was a saying used to implement that a situation or thing was negative, or seen as a disgusting thing. After years and years of hearing this make its way around school, I knew for a fact I couldn't tell anyone. I would lose my friends. I would be denied friendship. My family would hate me. All of these things would sit in my head and constantly reassure me, that I could not express myself.

I did not choose to be gay. Religion also played a big role in my life. My entire life, I grew up around a dad and step mom who were very religious and believed that gay people were living in sin. My dad would tell me how he would not approve of my life if I turned out to be gay. He is no longer with me today, but I do believe if I told him, he would not be accepting. I also have a lot of extended family who are religious and do not accept the gay community. I was afraid I would not be loved. I was afraid that I would be seen as disgusting, vile, worthless. All of these different ideas roaming through my mind. Finally, one day, I woke up.

I did not choose to be gay. One day, about a year ago, I sat down and realized something. This is me. This is who I am. That is the truth. And suddenly nothing else mattered. The bullies, the fear of rejection, the discrimination. None of it mattered to me anymore. So one day I told my mom. My mom has been my foundation my entire life. Everything I have been through, she has helped me reach the other side. She has loved me, and supported me, and shaped the person I am today. She is extraordinary. I knew that I needed to tell her first. I needed to tell me best friend. And I'm damn glad I did. She told me that as long as I am healthy, safe, and happy, nothing else mattered. I was still her first born, and she loved me very much. After I knew she was accepting, I knew I could tell anyone else. And I did.

As time goes on, I really feel like people need to be more open minded. When it comes to religion, I respect everyone who has faith in a god or spirit. I believe having faith is what makes us humanity. I believe you can disagree with my sexual orientation. I will not try and force you to accept me, but I do expect you to respect me. Respect my life, my choices, my life as a human being. Because I am one. When it comes to discrimination, I really just wish people would come to realize that this is 2016. Gay marriage IS legal and it should stay legal. Denying someone the right to love is an abomination of the pursuit of happiness. Let others live their life. Let others be happy.

As a community, we should teach our future generations about the LBGTQ community. We should stop fitting them into specific roles. We should give them the option. Maybe just sit down with them and say, "hey, someday, you're going to start having feelings for someone. It may be a boy, or it may be a girl, and whoever it is, is perfectly okay". It's time our social differences degrade, and we become one again. We can disagree on political issues until we're blue in the face, but we need to stop disagreeing on being human.

I didn't know this was who I am. But here I am, sitting here writing this article. I have conquered so much, and will continue to prosper. I will love whoever I want. As Christina Yang says, "Have some fire. Be unstoppable. Be a force of nature. Be better than anyone here, and don’t give a damn what anyone thinks. There are no teams here, no buddies. You’re on your own. Be on your own." I will do that. I will be unstoppable, and live my life. I will be me because,

I did not choose to be gay.