Country & city: United Kingdom
Name/nickname: Scott Tarpey (Neaemo)
Age: 18
Gender: Male
What did you come out as (gay, bi, transgendered)? Gay
What other words would you use to describe yourself? Misunderstood
How old were you when you first realized your identity? 14
How old were you when you first told someone? 17
Did you plan it? If so, how? October 2007 I did have a plan but the lass wasn’t in college, so i told my new friend. When, I did we became closer and we were good friends before i left college in march 2008.
What made you choose that person to tell? I felt a good feeling about her and I could trust her and I was right; it was nice to tell someone my true feelings, so i was happy.
Can you remember exactly what you said? I was scared to say that I was gay, so what I did was that I made her guess and I gave her clues.
How did you feel? I was shaking I was so scared, but after an hour i was fine.
What was the person’s reaction? She was proud of me and like I said, we became good friends.
What did they say? “You're gay, oh well done Scott I'm proud of you,” that was her first words to it or something like that, I can't remember that far back.
What was your relationship with the person like afterwards? We were good friends and when I was in college we stuck together and looked out for each other.
What’s it like now? I've left college now so I'm not speaking to her now which is a shame, but im grateful to have had the chance to know a great gal she was.
If you’ve been outed unwillingly, who did it? Luckily I wasn’t
What happened? n/a
What were peoples’ reactions? When it got to November 2007 i told my friends; at first they were happy but when it got to march 2008 my life changed and the hate they have with me for being gay hurt me so much.
If you’ve experienced homophobia etc, please give an example? They bullied me, made me feel like a freak i attempted suicide once and they pretended they cared but they didn’t and D**** O’B**** the most cold hearted homophobic bastard on earth who should be shot was the main evil that made my life a living hell.
Since coming out, how “out” are you in the following areas of your life: present day I'm getting better, I have a boyfriend, my parents know about me and they are fine. I'm not talking to those evil people anymore and I'm hoping everything will run smoothly.
Educational institution: I'm currently doing a 4 week course at a place called "The Big Picture" which provides materials for poor kids throughout the world and when the kids have made there pictures they are sent back to the big picture; then the pictures are framed cards are made with them and then they are sold to the general public. The money made then goes back to those kids, so it's a charity really and it's pretty good what they do and the course I'm doing there is really about learning how to cooperate with others and learning how to make cards and also there im doing a a bit of photography too, which is fun.
Job: n/a
Family: my family are fine with me being gay
Friends: my good friends love me for who I am and I can't wait to go visit Ritchard next year.
What does being out mean to you? To me it means I'm gay I'm here. If you don't like me then go fuck yourself. You laugh at me cause I'm different, I laugh at you cause you're all the same.
What differences, if any, did your cultural background make to your experience of coming out? My area doesn’t have a cultural type thingy ma bob. I only live in a working class town. It's made me stronger and I've realised what the world really is and it's evil, but it has the potential to be better, but only people can make that happen.
What does the concept of the closet mean to you? Someone who is in the closet and no one knows of their sexuality
What advice would you give someone wanting to come out? I wouldn’t know how everyone has different environments of living so my advice would vary depending on the person itself.
If you could do it all again, would you do it any differently? If so, how? I wouldn’t do it again I've done it once I'm not doing it again.