When I Came Out

The year I was born Berkley, CA was the first location in the US to offer domestic partner benefits to city employees.

When I was in the first grade Hong Kong, Ukraine and the Bahamas decriminalized homosexuality.

The year I first admitted to myself I might be gay Ellen Degeneres came out, her career tanked and her show was pulled from the air.

The year I came out to my closest friends Matthew Shepard was killed and I heard people applaud his death as "one less queer."

The year I graduated high school Canada passed a law to allow civil unions.

The first year I could legally drink The Simpson's became the first television show to dedicate an entire episode to the topic of legal gay marriage.

I am thirty years old. In my lifetime nineteen states have legalized same-sex marriage. There are same-sex couples dancing on So You Think You Can Dance. There are so many homosexual people in public office I can't keep track. Ellen has one of the top rated talk shows of all time. Headlines this morning informed me that "gay neighborhoods" are no longer necessary and are becoming a thing of the past. A transgendered woman walked the red carpet at the Emmy's last weekend and the only thing they asked her was "what are you wearing?" And I can say "my wife" with little more than an extra blink from most people I meet.

If you consider the recent video of Daniel Pierce it can feel like we aren't getting anywhere, and we really do have a long way to go. There are too many children terrified to come out. There are too many people still being discriminated against. We are far from done.

But sometimes I just have to sit back and think... Wow. Look what has happened. Look how we've grown. How incredible is it that I've gotten to witness such amazing things first hand?