Social Question

elaina28's avatar

I realized that I'm bi, and I now have a girlfriend, but don't know how to come out to friends (NSFW)

Asked by elaina28 (110points) June 27th, 2011

Okay, so I’m 17, and recently, I’ve been really confused about some things… I have this friend, Melanie, and she’s 18. We’ve been friends for about a year and a half now. Melanie is bisexual, and I’ve always thought that I was straight, and although she’s always respected that I was straight, she’s always sort of harmlessly, playfully flirted with me, and I’ve flirted back, as it’s always been in a joking sort of tone. However, I have always thought that she was gorgeous. She’s much shorter than me; very petite with short hair and the most adorable smile. She’s always so happy, and she makes me feel better whenever I’m down. Well, in the past, I’ve only had two boyfriends, neither being very serious, and I’ve only been with one guy, sexually. Well, I’ve never had a serious attraction to another girl before, but recently, I realized that I’ve had this growing attraction to Melanie. Whenever she smiles, I melt, and she’s all that I think about… I’ve even fantasized about her when I get myself off. However, since I’ve never felt like this about a girl before, I’ve tried to deny it, and act normally around her.

The other night, I was at Melanie’s house, and her parents and her brother were out, so we were alone. We were in her room, changing into our bathing suits to go swimming. Once she had just finished changing, I took a deep breath and told her that I wanted to talk to her about something. She was really interested in what I had to say, and I told that I think I’m bi, and I asked her how she realized that she was bi. She told me that it was when she developed really strong feelings for this one girl, and asked me if I had feelings for any girl in particular. I told her yes, and she spent about 5 minutes trying to get me to tell her who before I admitted that it was her. She looked surprised, and then smiled at me, and pulled me towards her and kissed me. It was by far the best kiss I’ve ever gotten. She pulled me onto her, and we made out for a good twenty minutes before she started pulling my bikini top off. I was extremely nervous, since I’ve never been with a girl before, but she was really sweet and made me feel comfortable with everything. I followed her lead, and she started kissing my neck and ended up fingering me and going down on me. Afterwards, she asked me, “So you still think you’re bi?” and I told her, “Definitely.” So she smiled, and asked me “So then, if you’re definitely still bi, and you’re definitely attracted to me, would you want to go out with me?” I told her yes, but there’s a few problems.

Melanie and I have a similar group of friends. Most of my good friends have also become friends of hers, so we all spend a lot of time together as a group. Our group of friends has known that Melanie was bisexual since they met her. She has no problem telling people straight off the bat that she’s bi, and our friends are okay with it. However, most of these friends have known me much longer than Melanie; most of my life, and they’ve known me only as straight. I feel as though coming out to them would be difficult, as I’m afraid they would act differently around me; mostly my female friends, who are fine with LGBT people, but don’t exactly know how to act around them. I know that Melanie is really excited about us becoming an item; She told me that she’s “happier than she’s been in a really long time” because of our new relationship, and I feel the same. She told me that she would really like for our friends to know that we’re an item, because she’s so happy about it, and she “wants to be able to hold my hand or give me a kiss without hiding it from them.” She told me that she would never say anything or push me to come out to them if I’m not ready, though.
However, I don’t want Melanie to feel like I’m ashamed of my feelings for her and/or my relationship with her, because I know she’s excited about it. I do want our friends to know, but I’m not sure how to go about doing it. Should I put this off longer? I don’t want Melanie to feel hurt, or think that I want to hide the fact that we’re going out. How should I deal with this? What should I tell her and/or our friends?

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17 Answers

_zen_'s avatar

Is the whole world suddenly gay now? Do we need a new topic at the top next to Social?

But seriously, congratulations: you may go get married in New York, NY!

It must be difficult, 17 is a rough age, but you sound mature – it’ll all be good.

athenasgriffin's avatar

You might want wait a little bit longer. A similar situation occurred between two of my best friends in sophomore year of high school. My two friends (Both girls) started dating and told our small group of friends (about 10 people) about their feelings. All of us were really supportive and I was personally very happy for them both. However, somehow the information got out to the rest of the school the next week. Our school is very open to these things, but I think they were embarrassed of all the extra attention. Everyone was very supportive.
I’m still friends with both people, and (years later) both of them kind of wish they had waited to reveal the information to the rest of us until they had been with each other a bit longer. The stress of people knowing kind of put a strain on the relationship.

However, I for one, am happy for Melanie and you. If you feel that it is right for you, you should definitely tell your friends. Maybe starting with only your closest friends.

Plucky's avatar

I’m sure you will get plenty of excellent advice on Fluther ..some of the advice that was in your previous question too. I really need to log off. I want to mention a couple of books though. If you can purchase or borrow them from a library, I think you will find them very useful.

Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth and Their Allies

Outing Yourself: How to Come Out as Lesbian or Gay to Your Family, Friends, and Coworkers

ANef_is_Enuf's avatar

… didn’t you just ask this question the other day?

Plucky's avatar

@ANef_is_Enuf I think she is now asking how to come out to her friends. I think there will be a lot of overlapping though. :)

ANef_is_Enuf's avatar

@PluckyDog oh, I lost track of the question after the second dose of erotica.

_zen_'s avatar

She had me at Bi.

Aethelflaed's avatar

I always just check out women in front of them. Or introduce someone who’s my girlfriend as “This is blank, my girlfriend”.

trickface's avatar

On telling secrets to friends, I keep this in mind:

“The ones who mind don’t matter and the ones who matter don’t mind”

Meaning if they’re good friends they wont rip you apart for it or have any problem with it, why would they, it’s your sexuality. If they do, that’s homophobic, right? Bad homophobes!

Pied_Pfeffer's avatar

Have you talked to your mother about how you feel yet? If not, I would encourage you to do that first before sharing the news with friends.

marinelife's avatar

I would wait a little longer until your relationship with Melanie is a little more solidified before subjecting it to public scrutiny.

Tell Melanie that you would like her and the relationship all to yourself for a bit.

Blondesjon's avatar

It’s like pulling off a band-aid. Just take a deep breath and do it. You’ll soon find out who your real friends are.

am i the only one who thinks the whole penthouse forum, finger banging story was totally unnecessary in relation to the question? can’t you just ask about coming out without the soft porn? i only ask because it’s kind of an intimate thing to share with a bunch of complete strangers. in fact, if you can share your bikini clad finger banging story with such ease, why would you have any trouble at all coming out to anyone? just curious.

Pied_Pfeffer's avatar

@Blondesjon You are not the only one.

Simone_De_Beauvoir's avatar

I am happy you know your sexuality a bit better now, I am glad you have a person to play around with and explore. I understand that apprehension about your friends but since you’re bi, that’s not going to change and they’re the ones that will have to adjust (though why anyone would have a problem with it at this point is beyond me, but people have issues) – your new possible girlfriend needs to let you have space and time to decide as to when to come out. I know it must seem so easy to her since she has no issues with talking about her bisexuality but people have different comfort levels and you should let her know you need more time to get some bravery going on here. Good luck.

wundayatta's avatar

While not, strictly speaking, necessary for the question, I did find the story to be delightful.

As to the question—I guess I don’t think there’s any right answer. Remember, as soon as you tell anyone, the whole community will know.

I think you should discuss this honestly with your lover. Tell her it isn’t easy for you and you have a lot of worries about coming out. Tell her what you told us. If you have to hide this from your lover, then I’m not sure what kind of relationship you have. You need to find out who she is, and if she wants to reward her excitement instead of honoring your fears, then maybe it isn’t a relationship you want to be in.

Meego's avatar

@Blondesjon I was thinking the same thing. I guess when I was 17 we didnt have the security of anonymity through internet anyway. So you either dealt with it or not. Typically we would of told our stories to our best friend or diary.
But wow TMI.
To be honest I wonder if it’s just a phase of curiosity. When your 17 sexual tension is explosive. Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to say you don’t know who you are.
You know better than I do.
At the same time I know what raging hormones are like.
When you get older you’ll realise it’s not all about just getting off.
It’s not great advice sorry. I think simply put – don’t do anything you may end up regreting later in life.

Vincentt's avatar

Make an account of Facebook, add all your friends and then change your relationship status ;-)

Seriously though, if you want to come out, and she has, why not ask your friend? Surely she knows how best to or can do it for you if you’re cool with that? And if you don’t feel like that, are you sure you want to come out already?

Also, a lot of the advice on not spreading the word this quickly seems to apply regardless of your sexual preference. Which is fine, of course – don’t rush this because it’s “coming out” and you think you should do that quickly. You could also try first coming out and telling about the relationship later, or coming out first and slowly letting it slip through that you two are dating.

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