“Jazmine, I have a confession to make,” says G-Boy.
It’s roughly 2o’clock in the morning in Portland, Oregon. I’ve been trying to go to bed for the last hour and half, and he will not shut-up.
“If this is a ploy to get me to stay up later because you unfortunately can’t seem to fall asleep, it’s not working,” I groggily respond. I’m in a half comatose state.
“No, I’m serious!” he says.
“Okay, what?” I ask.
“I’m gay,” G-Boy confesses.
And it’s then he has my attention. I’m intrigued.
“Really?” I ask. Then I just start spouting off questions.
“How long have you felt this way?”
“Have you came out to your parents yet?
“How many other people have you told?”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
He was hesitant at first, but he answered all of them.
“Well I’ve always thought I was bisexual, but then I got to a point last year where I was just like… No, I don’t like girls,” he explained.
“I haven’t told my parents yet, but I want too. I don’t think they’ll be too surprised.”
“I’ve only told four or five people other than you.”
“And no, I currently do not have a boyfriend… But that’s an entirely other story in itself.”
Then he turned the questions on me.
“So really Jazmine, you had no idea I was gay?” he asked.
“To be quite honest, I guess I didn’t really care either way. It’s not something I generally the first thing I question when I become friends with someone,” I answered.
Then we got to talking about how weird it is that people who are bisexual or gay have to have a “coming out.” Why does there need to be a “special event” for people to say whether they’re into males or females. It makes zero sense to me, and after I explained that to him… It made zero sense to him either why he was making it such a big deal.
My sleep exhaustion started settling in, so obviously I started making jokes.
“Does this man I can start referring to you as ‘Gay-Boy’ from now on?” I asked.
“Only if it’s between us,” he replied through laughs, “Not everyone knows yet!”
We were laughing for at least another 45minutes until we cried, and the atmosphere changed a little bit.
“I don’t think I have ever laughed at myself this much,” G-Boy said after our long laughing fit.
“Well I’m glad I could help,” I said.
And that’s all I could say. It was 4o’clock in the morning at this point, and I was beyond tired. However, I couldn’t help but think how happy I was about how this entire situation unfolded.
I got him to laugh at himself for having put so much stock into “coming out.” It wasn’t that big of a deal. I felt like I had reminded him that all-in-all… He was still human. And there was nothing wrong with that.
That’s what makes me happiest. Helping others to laugh at themselves for taking things in life too seriously, and discovering themselves.