LGTBQ and Coming Out Week provide students with outlets

http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2008/10/10/lgtbq-and-coming-out-week-provide-students-outlets/
Josh Barone
10/10/2008

No two coming out stories are the same.

Triangle Coalition President Joshua Barton was faced with a choice, to tell the truth or repress it, when his mother overheard his phone conversation when he described his first kiss with another male.

Deciding against lying, he came out to his mother as gay.

"That was the biggest shock to her, but I knew she knew," Barton said. "But it was something that was never talked about. For me to actually say it was a shock to her."

Barton, a senior, grew up in a primarily white rural community, in a conservative, religious family. He said since coming out to his family, there have been ups and downs.