Commitment and coming out

Several days ago, Jean left a comment on one of my older posts about coming out. She said that a family wedding invitation was the impetus for her coming out, as it was for my own. I wonder if this is a common reason for making the announcement. The minute someone in your family announces a wedding, there's so much discussion about marriage. Not just the specific marriage of your sister or brother (as in my case), but marriage in general becomes a favoured family conversation topic. In my case, I started to think about the idea of commitment. Not only my commitment to Heather, but also my commitment to not disclose my sexuality to my dad. I thought about the promise my brother was making, and I thought about the long life that is, hopefully, ahead of me. I couldn't commit to a lifetime of lies. I knew I needed to come out to my dad. And I'm so glad I did.