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I'm delighted as a representative of the corporate management team to pledge our support for
this campaign.
I came out about four years ago whilst I was at University during the Summer holidays.
The first coming out at University was one of the best experiences, for me in my life
and I don't know where I would be without it.
I first came out in well, I suppose within the first two weeks of starting at University.
It was the first of my fresh starts.
I think from a very young age I felt that there was something different about me.
I was asked jokingly you know 'are you gay?' I said well actually yes I am.
And I realised that yes I am gay and it's OK.
it was an immense relief and just to get it, you know out there and for the first time
be who I really am.
So obviously I hadn't told my parents so that was the sort of next stage in the coming out
process.
And it was a lot harder coming out to my parents but I wrote er.. I wrote the most formal email
you can imagine. Dear Mother, Dear Father etc etc It's come to my attention blah blah
blah it was more than a little bit ridiculous but it was what I felt comfortable with.
My sister had pretty much guessed over Facebook and I was like 'I don't want to tell you over
Facebook, I'll come home and I'll tell you'.
I've got a really good relationship with my parents and I was really worried that it would
effect that. That they would hate me, throw me out.
So I came home sort of that weekend, and I was like OK, so I told my sister and she was
like 'Yeah that's fine, like as long as I know, I just didn't want you to feel like
you were hiding anything from me'.
But I was very fortunate because I told them, and they said they loved me, they accepted
me for who I was.
I could be whoever I wanted to be and I chose to be who I actually am -- which was crazy,
it's the first time I had been myself.
We have a zero tolerance here of any bullying and harassment including where it's on the
grounds of *** orientation.
If somebody says anything to you or does anything to you that makes you feel frightened, or
uncomfortable, or scared, you can tell somebody about it because they are people out there
that will help you and support you to get through it.
Since leaving Uni I've got a job at KCC on their Highways Graduate programme. I think
that would have been the case no matter what my *** orientation. I'm a firm believer
in that an employer would employ you on your skills and experience not your *** orientation.
Without the separation from who I was, before University, I would have, I wouldn't be who
I am now. I wouldn't be sitting here on a good graduate scheme in a great council.
I think being open within KCC within my team and within my job here has really helped me
to be the best person that I can be at KCC.
There's loads of equalities groups -- one of them was for young people which I've joined
and the other one that I've joined is the Rainbow staff group which is for LGBT employees.
Through knowing people at Rainbow I've been able to get to know KCC as an organisation
better.
And that means that I can be the most productive, the most positive, and enthusiastic person
that I can be thanks to the fact that I can be open and work openly here.
Being out at work isn't as bad as you might expect.
We want people to feel engaged with the work that they do, but also feel free to be themselves
in the work place.
You know it really does better, I mean, I struggled to come to terms with my sexuality
myself and once I had come to terms with It, it got a lot better.
There is nobody that is alone in this situation. There are so many people out there, who are
openly LGBT, and they are happy, and they are in love and they are successful. And those
things can happen to you too.
You have the power to change your life for the better. Just go for it. It gets so so
so much better.
I can thoroughly tell you it gets so much better.