This episode features two stories with vastly different journeys coming out as gay in the early 2000s.  Caylie, from a small religious town in Texas, shares how she found acceptance and put her gayness straight into action while me, Melissa, I share how I was full of self-hate and turned to harmful dangerous coping mechanisms to survive. We discuss the fear of coming out, the necessity of feeling accepted, and although the LGBTQ+ community has become more mainstream over the decades we still have a long way to go.