Queer Peer

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 Hey everyone!

Welcome back to a fresh new year <<3

With the immense amount of love and success my previous post based on the LGBTQ+ Community received, a lot(I mean, A LOT) of y'all wanted me to cover another post on this topic!

Which brings us here :)

In today's post I'll be writing about various thoughts a person might experience when coming out, how it negatively impacts their mental health, as well as ways one can support their friends from this community.

P.S: Everyone has different experiences so I spoke to different people from the coterie and I tried my best to make it common to all teens :)

Without further ado, let's get to it!

Coming Out of the Closet

It can be quite a tough process for a lot of people and is often coupled with a gazillion overpowering thoughts. 

1. Self esteem takes a hit

Years spent in the closet can make the prospect of revealing oneself an emotionally charged experience. However, the process is not just about revealing oneself to others-in coming out as best they can, they tend to dissociated aspects of the themselves. This can lead to questioning themselves and often leads to a path of constant blocks of low self esteem.

2. Constantly invalidated

Honestly everyone I know from the community has experienced this at least once.
"You're too young" or "You have no idea what it is. You're just experimenting" is what they say. Leads to several thoughts of self doubt  often self shattering which takes a huge hit on one's Mental Health.


3. Telling parents 

Mainly due to the generational gap and lack of knowledge on it, coming out to one's parent has been proved to be harder than coming out to friends. Why? Numerous reasons including fear of non acceptance to being kicked out and even worse. One tends to fill their head with such negative fearful thoughts. Living with such various situations, challenges their emotional well-being and foster anxiety over rejections and abandonment. 

Besides the above, there are still plentiful reasons as to why such thoughts take a toll on a person's Mental Health. These were just a few. (Check out the previous post to read more: Mental Struggles of the LGBTQ+ Community)

Now, we come to the question,

How do you be an ally?

It's pretty simple-just be supportive. Treat them as normal human being and don't discriminate them on the basis of their sexuality. How hard is it, am I right?

Stand up for them when someone bullies them and be with them through every step of the way.

People already go through enough, you don't want to add to it.

Educate yourself on various topics, be mindful of one's actions and language and don't assume anyone's sexuality yourself.
 Ask if you're in doubt. Ask their pronouns. 

Because at the end of the day, 

LOVE IS LOVE.

Okay! That was it for today! Hope y'all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing this post. Do let me know in the comments about some taboos or struggles you may have come across in the comments below! Don't forget to share and follow for more content, every Friday :)
Have a great year ahead  <3

Signing off,
Kuhu :)


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