When I was little, I didn't know that a world like this existed. I learned about it in the second year of middle school, and that's when I began to enter that world myself. Back then, I knew nothing about it and barely understood what it meant. But in my third year of middle school, I came out to my family. Looking back now, I wonder how I had the courage to come out back then. Maybe I was young and naive, and didn't think about how my parents felt or whether what I did would hurt them.
I told them over the phone: "Mom, I like boys."
Maybe because I was the youngest in the family, born when my parents were already middle-aged, my parents doted on me, and my older siblings indulged me and helped me. When my mom heard, she didn't blame me. She just asked with concern, "Honey, what's wrong? Are you sick? Should we take you to the hospital?" My reply was surprisingly calm, with a touch of stubbornness: "I'm not sick."
I'm glad now that I told my family back then. Otherwise, I'm sure I wouldn't have the courage to tell them at this point in my life! There was a reason I came out: I had fallen for a boy at our school…
