Doesn't this shooter sound like all the others?

[stillwaiting]

19. You were very lucky. Mine are Southern Baptist fundamentalists and it DOES leave a mark.

A very heavy mark for many brought up in that environment. I was lucky to get through a certain period in my life, and I had to have a complete nervous breakdown and lose everything before I could come to grips with being gay. I became non-functioning for awhile.

It is definitely possible to overcome, but I sometimes feel that pain that I went through will always be with me to some extent. I wish I could leave those feelings completely behind for good. To be clear, the pain I reference is referring to painful feelings I sometimes experience whenever I reflect on that period of my life. I sometimes feel sad that I had to go through so much, but whenever I feel this way I am able to shake it off by focusing on the present. Thinking back to my later childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood will probably always be at least somewhat painful for me. I am committed to doing all I can to try and prevent as many people as I can from experiencing what I went through.

On a positive note my first boyfriend (that helped me deal with SO much) is my current life partner. I have no idea how that happened with all of the issues I had early on in our relationship, but I am so lucky to have him in my life.

The LGBT community has come so far, but we have a lot more progress to make. There are still many places in this country where someone who is gay might still be surrounded only by people that condemn being gay like I experienced, and that will cause incredible damage. Still.