Growing up in an Irish Catholic family and attending Catholic school for eight years was no walk in the park for a somewhat effeminate gay boy like me. I only had "girlfriends," I played with Barbie dolls and I played dress up with girl clothes all the time. I knew I was different from as far back as I can remember.
The taunts and teasing started around 4th grade. My class had only around 25 students in it, so standing out was very easy. By the time 8th grade came, I knew I was a "fag" because I was called it every day, but had no idea exactly what that meant. That same year, I made a ( luckily ) unsuccessful attempt to try and end my life. I started going to psychiatrists and psychologists to try and find what was going on. But the truth was, I didn't even know myselfthat is, until I finally came out of the closet as an openly gay man sophomore year of high school. And you know what? It wasn't that bad.
I was one of the lucky ones who came out to an extremely supportive mother and siblings. For the first time, I knew exactly what I was and knew that there was nothing I could do to change it and life as I knew it could only get better.
Life did get better. After I came out of the closet, the taunting seemed to disappear completely because I was living an open and honest life and would not let anyone tease me anymore for simply being me.
Life does have its ups and downs, but always remember that IT GETS BETTER.