Coming Out in the Media

 When I read the article about Ellen's coming out story, I wondered what actual LGBTQ individuals felt about the whole situation. Many people focus on how the heterosexuals felt about Ellen's coming out I know that majority of society live by heterosexual standards but does the heterosexual opinion change how the LGBTQ community felt?

                In my sexuality class, I had an assignment where I had to write a hypothetical coming out letter. This was one of the hardest assignments I had to do. I couldn't figure what words to say and I can only imagine how hard it is for an actual LGBTQ member to come out. In the media, coming out is portrayed as one of the easiest things that a person can do. I believe that they want the heterosexual audience to accept that not all people are heterosexual. I believe that this is good for the LGBTQ members, but I believe that the way that the media portrays coming out is far from the truth. Many LGBTQ individuals are never accepted if they do come out or they never come out because they know that they won't be accepted. When we were discussing this topic in my class, we also did an activity where we were given a colored piece of paper. On that paper, we had to write people who we were close with, our dreams and whatever social community we were a part of. Once that was done, we were given scenarios, each scenario called for a person to either tear off or fold back that person or community’s name to show that they either accepted or unaccepted. When I did this activity, I had to tear off all my people as well as my dreams and community. When the media shows a coming out process, they rarely show a real life situation, well I haven’t seen any. Maybe one day there will be a show that can be more real about the coming out process to have heterosexuals see how hard it can be for LGBTQ individuals to come out where heterosexuals can hypothetically see their selves in a LGBTQ individual's shoes.