Students discuss the process of coming out

by Mohana Ravindranath | Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 10:11 pm

http://thedp.com/article/students-discuss-process-coming-out

When College junior Josh Tweedy arrived at Penn, he was male. He didn't plan to disclose to anyone at Penn that he had been born female, and that 10 years before he had undergone sex reassignment surgery.

The 32-year-old, non-traditional student has "come out" three times. The first was at age 15 as a lesbian, the second at 22 when he had decided to transition into a male body and the third while at Penn when he identified himself as a gay "transman."

Like others who have come out at Penn, Tweedy emphasized that coming out is a process. Even with the impetus of National Coming Out Day, which was Oct. 11, it can't be rushed, and it can't be formulized. But Penn does offer resources that can help.

Hm...I found this to be a very interesting article. And, in a way, I can relate to it: within the past few months, I've been thinking that I may be bisexual. There have been points in my life where I've felt attraction to girls as well as guys. And, like the article says, it took me a great while after these fleeting fancies to realize what it may mean. And, I'm still a little unsure if I am bi or not, and am still figuring it out.

In a way it feels surreal to be adding on to my character and my self-definition even though I'm only 17; I had thought I'd identified each part of myself awhile ago and that it wouldn't change (naive as that is). For now I'm still exploring. Good article!