Being Out in College

By: Isabella Pillay

One of my many life goals is to always be my authentic self, and in being my authentic self, I must tell you that I am a lesbian. Aside from a situation where I felt my life was at risk, I come out to nearly everyone I have prolonged conversations with, typically within the first ten minutes of speaking with them. I first realized I wasn’t straight when I was in sixth grade, thanks to the TV show Glee. Now, I had been watching it for a couple of months before I looked at Brittany, Santana, and Quinn, and it dawned on me. Wow, I thought, I would date them in a heartbeat. Of course, little sixth grade me didn’t know anything about the LGBT community – My mom had that one friend that was nice the one time I met him and that was about it. None of my family members are LGBT, and neither were any of my peers. I had only the Internet and a very gay Kurt to look to. I was starting my first year of high school before I was out to my entire grade, and later my entire school.

So what does this have to do with being out in college? Spending the first two years of high school as one of the only out LGBT people was isolating. I knew no matter where I was going, I wanted to be myself completely. Even if no one else in the room was out, they would know they weren’t alone. When I got here and found myself surrounded with LGBT friends, I felt so at home. There was just one difference – I had a lot more daily coming out to do. Though IC is small, talk of sexuality doesn’t travel at all unlike high school. The majority of the people here on this campus will never know how I identify (well, until they read this magazine). That doesn’t stop me from living my truth, and pursuing my goal in being a safe space for the people around me to just be.

I know not everyone finds their people right away, especially if they are transitioning from a small high school or homeschooling to college. But, I hope that by being an out, loud, and proud person in this community, I can help even just one person feel more at home here and most importantly, in their own skin. This is why I love being out in college.