I was married wh 2 kids when I realized I'm gay (opn) | CNN

Contents:

• 17 SIGNS YOU'RE ACTUALLY GAY (AND JT DON'T KNOW IT)
• THREE INSIGHTS OM PEOPLE WHO REALIZED THEY WERE GAY LATER LIFE
• I WAS MARRIED WH 2 KIDS WHEN I REALIZED I’M GAY
• HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY
• "I REALIZED I WAS GAY": MEN WHO CAME OUT LATER IN LIFE ARE SHARG WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR THEM TO REVEAL THAT TTH AND LIVE AUTHENTILLY
• 7 PEOPLE SHARE THE MOMENT THEY REALIZED THEY WERE GAY
• REALIZG YOU'RE GAY: WHAT IS MEANT BY THAT?
• HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM GAY? SIGNS YOU ARE GAY
• CHARL BARKLEY FENDS LGBTQIA+ MUNY, BUD LIGHT EXPLETIVE-FILLED RANT: ‘IF YOU’RE GAY, GOD BLS YOU’

17 SIGNS YOU'RE ACTUALLY GAY (AND JT DON'T KNOW IT)

It’s the twenty first century and if someone’s gog to be a judgmental ltle hoe, then they don’t serve to be your v gay life. One of your top ten experienc was at a Pri para where you were surround by the most tertg, fun strangers you have ever enuntered, and no one you knew was there to judge you, or the only people you knew there were gay. You sometim thk about what would be like to tell your parents, extend fay, and iends that you are gay.

THREE INSIGHTS OM PEOPLE WHO REALIZED THEY WERE GAY LATER LIFE

You believe equaly, love diversy, have liberal views, and are mted to seeg gay marriage legalized every untry. Perhaps you've heard of people who e out as gay late you might be ls faiar wh people who don't realize they are gay until well to spoke to three dividuals about their journey of disvery and gleaned three signifint sights to human sexualy. "The impulse and prsure to lean toward heterosexualy and away om homosexualy is what wrer Adrienne Rich lled "pulsory heterosexualy, " a term she popularized, which refers to the ia of heterosexualy as the flt sexual inty.

Social stigma n keep people om explorg homosexualy and journey to realize, accept, and e out wh a person's sexualy happens for some people  middle Hewt me out four years ago, at the age of 45, after two marriag to men and two children. "It was a batn of the time when I was born and raised and [the] msage I got as a child that [homosexualy] was not acceptable, even though my fay was fairly progrsive, " Hewt said.

I WAS MARRIED WH 2 KIDS WHEN I REALIZED I’M GAY

"Hewt said she feared discrimatn and remembered thkg, "I don't want to be gay, " mostly bee she, a mother of two teenagers, didn't want to re-orient her view of the tth h her durg a medatn ssn. "Jillian is younger and grew up a time wh more gay people pop culture, but she found her role mols the queer muny, thanks to her girliend and iends. "*Jillian is a psdonym as this source requted to be your opnDo you know anyone who realized they were gay as an adult?

I kept wag for the moment where I would realize I was no longer gay so I uld put a halt to everythg. I was nsumed by the p my stomach – the shame of endg my marriage bee I was gay was like luggg a sandbag over my shoulrs and havg a rock my stomach at the same time. I wasn’t sure how to tell my nservative, Geia-born and bred parents that their former pageant queen dghter was endg her marriage bee she is gay.

HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY

I wasn’t brave enough to actually say the words – the label of beg gay or a lbian was too much for my soul to bear at the time – so I sent her a text msage, “I am not straight.

Democratic printial ndidate Pete Buttigieg – who, like me, is his late 30s and, like me, me out publicly jt a few years ago – put this way: “It’s hard to face the tth that there were tim my life when, if you had shown me exactly what was si me that ma me gay, I would have cut out wh a knife. LGBT is still a popular term ed to discs genr and sexual mori, but all GSRM are wele beyond lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people who nsent to participate a safe space. Most people the LGBTQ+ muny know om experience that acceptg your sexualy will lead to your beg a happier, more open this gui, the term gay has been ed to clu all forms of non-heterosexual attractn, whether that be people who are lbian, gay, bisexual, queer, pansexual, or otherwise not straight.

"I REALIZED I WAS GAY": MEN WHO CAME OUT LATER IN LIFE ARE SHARG WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR THEM TO REVEAL THAT TTH AND LIVE AUTHENTILLY

Consir takg an onle sexualy quiz, like this one, to see if intifyg as gay feels right for you. There isn't any need to change yourself - beg gay is jt another way of simply existg, and there is nothg wrong wh at all. The fact that I am gay is jt another facet of who I am, jt as beg creative, or optimistic, or havg brown ey is.

Beg gay do not necsarily make you any ls mascule or feme, and there is no need or prsure to nform to stereotyp that don't feel right to you - bee you are who you are. You do not need to f to the gay muny jt as much as you don't need to f to the straight muny. There are many, many gay people all sorts of muni, and there are many people there for you when you need support.

7 PEOPLE SHARE THE MOMENT THEY REALIZED THEY WERE GAY

Fd a group or a hangout where you feel fortable, and where there will be other gay people to talk wh. The laws the Bible were maly for health purpos - shunng homosexualy is right next to not gettg tattoos, not eatg pork, and not wearg mixed lens, but you n bet your bottom dollar all your neighbors do those thgs.

Like everyone else, gay people have dreams and goals and want pannship and love jt like anyone else you know. It is important to note that the Amerin Psychologil Associatn has clared that groups claimg to cure homosexualy are dangero and unhealthy.

REALIZG YOU'RE GAY: WHAT IS MEANT BY THAT?

If you are still beg supported by parents whom you are que sure would disown you for beg gay, may be pnt to wa to tell them until you are pennt.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM GAY? SIGNS YOU ARE GAY

You may regret the acceptance of your orientatn the future, pecially if you're a part of the world where the gay muny is beg prosecuted by a specific culture. Article SummaryXIf you stggle wh acceptg your attractn to the same sex, know that beg gay is pletely normal and you n be proud of who you are by fdg support and embracg your dividualy. It’s also important to unrstand that you don’t need to nform to gay stereotyp or tl, as they are artificial social nstcts.

When I found out earlier this month, along wh the rt of the world, that one of my favore actors, Kal Penn, is a fellow gay man and now engaged to his long-time partner, I was so happy that he was openly livg his tth.

Once the untry around me changed and I started seeg more gays the muny, felt safer, and I felt more fortable to e out. Part of me felt rponsible for her ath, as if beg bi or gay and my feelgs of regret somehow ed . I have a lot of stori about folks who were homophobic but me around to acceptg me and honorg me for beg a gay man, once they got to know me beyond what I do bed.

CHARL BARKLEY FENDS LGBTQIA+ MUNY, BUD LIGHT EXPLETIVE-FILLED RANT: ‘IF YOU’RE GAY, GOD BLS YOU’

In the meantime, I kept watchg gay porn but wouldn't accept and felt guilty after jerkg off to . I me out to my wife many moons ago but took a long time to realize that prayg the gay away wasn’t workg.

Pl the ‘80s was not a particularly good time to be gay — I thk fear of AIDS was possibly one thg that had me nial.

After spendg years dog all the manly thgs that were supposed to straighten me out, I had a particular weekend — a men-only whewater raftg trip — when I realized I did all the thgs I was aimg for that were supposed to change me, and I was still 100% gay. Once I knew the gay wasn't gog anywhere, I figured I wanted to be open and hont wh people om then on, regardls of how the rt of my life went.