Name or Nick Name : Billione
Country or City you are from: : Detroit, MI USA
Your Age : 33
Your Gender : Male
What did you come out as? : Gay
What other words would you use to describe yourself? : Black, vegetarian, intellectual, intense, son/brother/uncle, a work in progress.
How old were you when you first realised your identity? : 5 years old.
How old were you when you first told someone? : 10 years old
Did you plan it? If so, how? : It wasn't planed. It was more or less a situation where someone called me "gay" and I didn't deny or correct them. Then it was kind of like "Oh, OK." And no one really brought it up again.  The person that I told was the first person I ever fell for.
What made you choose that person to tell? : I loved him and wanted him to love me back, or pursue something more than a friendship with me.
Can you remember exactly what you said? : I didn't say "Hey, I'm gay." It was a situation where a group of us were hanging around someplace, and someone teased me about my voice, feminine mannerisms, and how I never tried to kick it with girls. The would call me "gay" or a "fag." When I didn't say anything or try to deny it, members of the group just kind of figured it out for themselves.
When my friend and I talked about it later, it was more or less him asking me why I couldn't be more like him, masculine. I told him "because I am not." We never talked about it again, until about 10 years later.
I sat him down, forgetting about our prior conversation, and came out to him in a more tradition manner. (If such even exists.)
He then told me that we already had this conversation.
How did you feel? : I felt nervous at first, because I loved him and wanted him to love me back. But then i was comforted by the fact that it was not a big deal to him. He has always been this ultra masculine kind of guy, one that wouldn't seem to have a gay friend. But he and I were good friends despite my sexual identity.
What was the person’s reaction? : He didn't really react. It was almost as if i was making a bigger deal out of it than was necessary. Perhaps I was, or maybe he was not reacting in the way he wanted to.
What did they say? : He said that he already knew because we had a conversation about it before. I knew he knew, but thought that me telling him would allow him to open up to me about how he felt about me. He doesn't usually take about serious issues, he just uses humor and his actions to show me that he cares about me.
What was your relationship with the person like afterwards? : Things were great for the most part. However, there were times when he would stop talking to me because he felt I was too flamboyant, or when i started dating guys that he knew, he always found something wrong with them and a reason to fight or not like them. Some say it is because he, in fact, had feelings for me that he was unwilling to explore physically.
What’s it like now? : We don't talk anymore. I think he is going through some things and he doesn't want my help. He knows that I love him. But I think it is better that we keep our distance. I sometimes wonder if he stays away out of fear that he has feelings for me and doesn't want to act on them.
If you’ve been outed unwillingly, who did it? : My former best friend.
What happened? : She invited me to dinner at her mother's home. I asked he specifically not to tell her family. I later found out, after the dinner, that she told everyone in her family before I came to dinner.
What were peoples’ reactions? : At dinner, people acted as if they didn't know and that it wasn't a big deal. I had no idea they all already knew. I later learned that my friend's sister didn't trust me because I was gay.
If you’ve experienced homophobia etc, please give an example. : While working at a local restaurant while a senior in high school, I had a co-worker and his friend pull me into the employee rest room, hold a gun to my head and accuse me of calling our boss at home and making inappropriate sexual advances. the manager then walked, proving that they planned it all out. I never did what i was accused of, but I wonder if they assumed it was me since I was the only one suspected of being gay.  
Since coming out how out are you at school? : all_out
Since coming out, how “out” are you at work? : all_out
Since coming out, how “out” are you with family? : partly_out
Since coming out, how “out” are you with your friends? : all_out
What does being out mean to you? : Being out to me means that I am forthcoming with how I identify and don't go out of my way to conceal that I am gay.
What differences, if any, did your cultural background make to your experience of coming out? : Being Black made it very difficult. It seems to me that Black folks, men particularly,  are more homophobic than other cultures, and the masculine, domineering man is what people expect of us. Even on TV, you hardly ever see regular, Black gay men like me or gay Black men at all for that matter.
What does the concept of the closet mean to you? : The concept of the closet, to me, is the place where people put things they are ashamed of. Gay people don't own the concept.
What advice would you give someone wanting to come out? : I would tell them that there are as many benefits as there are drawbacks and take the bitter with the sweet. If people don't like you after they find out you are gay, then they are probably not fit to be in your life in the first place. If the relationship is worth fighting for, then use your coming out as a learning experience.
If you could do it all again, would you do it any differently? If so, how? : Yes, I would have found other gay people to be around as a youth. It wasn't until I became an adult that I found others lime me who i could interact with.
Anything you want to add? : I believe that that the most revolutionary thing any of us can do is be a decent human being. If we do that, there would be no time to judge each other, hurt each other, or deny any of us basic human rights.