With love, from the Pride Parade

‘For me, the most difficult thing about coming out wasn’t the action of coming out, but rather, my continual need to come out to people’

Copley Square to Government Center was filled this past weekend with rainbow flags and smiling and laughing people of all ages. Not only is it Pride Month, but Saturday was also Boston’s Pride Parade and Festival.

Thousands of people showed up to the events. And although it was incredibly hot and sunny, it did not stop anyone from having a good time. Dehydrated attendees danced to every Lady Gaga song that played and screamed at every small dog with a rainbow bowtie on.

Andy Moeller, a senior at BU, was inspired by seeing the Pulse survivors in the parade and the young people who attended the parade.

“They were all at Machine last night when I went there, and it is so heartwarming to see these people who were so negatively affected by an awful event still show up for the biggest LGBT event of the year with smiles on their faces and flags in their hands,” said Andy. “There were a lot of kids that looked like they were in high school, draped with different flags on them, which was so beautiful to see. I couldn’t have imagined being that comfortable with myself when I was that young.”

“For me, the most difficult thing about coming out wasn’t the action of coming out, but rather, my continual need to come out to people. I’m a flamboyant guy so many people just assume, but it still is a really challenging thing to constantly have to do. I am so fortunate to come from such an accepting family that coming out initially wasn’t extremely difficult. However, I recognize that that isn’t the case for so many people, and so I try my best to recognize how lucky I am.”

We know there are so many factors to consider before coming out. Even telling families and friends who you know would be very accepting can be incredibly difficult. Andy gave us his advice for people thinking of coming out.

“My advice is fairly simple. Are you ready? Do you feel safe? If the answer is yes to both of those, great! I would suggest coming out to a few very trustworthy people first, and then slowly come out to more and more people who you care about.

“If you are not ready to come out, you don’t have to. Plain and simple. Coming out is YOUR choice and YOU deserve to have that control. Wait until you are ready, then proceed.

“For people who don’t feel safe coming out, I think it’s really important to look into the many resources (like the Trevor Project), which aim to help LGBT youth who are struggling find the help they need.”

Most importantly, though:

“Remember, this is all YOUR choice. Don’t let anyone else tell you how you need to come out!”

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