How My Creativity Has Helped Me with Coming Out as Gay and Stranger Things
- Jan 6
- 3 min read
Written by Andrew James Brookman, Writer/Author
Andrew Brookman is an Author of many books, many of them in the LGBTQ genre. Andrew has just released his memoir, Colours of a Rare Bird, about his life as a closeted Homosexual, published by Merlinus Publishers.
When I came out as gay last year, it was a huge relief. I was able to finally tell everybody my secret, a secret I had been keeping for 33 years of my life. I also wrote a book about my life as a closeted Homosexual and how, at forty-seven years of age, I have never had sex with a man or a woman. I can at last be up front about my sexuality and tell people my story instead of saying "I do not wish to talk about my personal life". I go out to the city once a week, and I will see gay men kissing, and now it does not hurt me as much as it used to because I am out of the closet and I am not hiding away anymore.
Recently, I have been watching the massive hit Netflix show "Stranger Things," and it’s a show I love. When Will came out as gay, as you can imagine, I could totally relate because keeping his sexuality a secret was his weakness, and I have written a book about this. I was bullied and I lived in fear of my sexuality, and I constantly put on a front, but it was a huge weakness and just like the character William, I had to tell people in the end because I wanted to be authentic and I wanted to share my creativity with the world and like Will my strength that I knew I had inside me.
Recently I wrote an article for a paper called "Reach Out" it’s a free paper and I have been going around my city giving these papers out to LGBTQ establishments and at the same time telling my story about my time in the closet and my book called "Colours of a rare Bird" and its been good therapy for me to tell people my story.
People tell me that their brother is gay or their niece is gay, and how most of them had a hard time coming out, or, like me, went into the closet. I had one man just last Saturday say to me, "My nephew is gay, but he will not come out of the closet. How do I get him to come out?" My answer, as always, is that it must be his call, and it can only be done by him. Nothing I can say and nothing I can do will make him come out of the closet; it has to be his personal choice.
He will find his journey to coming out in his own unique way. This Christmas was the first Christmas in thirty-three years that I did not feel sad because I just feel so much lighter, and I am being an authentic me. I am now writing a series of middle, grade, teenage books for the LGBTQIA community called "Howdy the Gay Magician" about a gay teenager who has magical powers and how he fits in to a magical kingdom where there is no judgement and constant sunny skies and through his friend Rickard who visits magical kingdom we get to see the difference between howdy world and our own.
If we can just accept people for who they are and put aside our own personal judgement and show support and love, then we make the magical kingdom in my story come true for LGBTQIA closeted people.
I now at last say goodbye to people like Venca and Henry Creel from Stranger Things because, since I came out as gay, just like William in the show, bad people no longer have any power over me.
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Read more from Andrew James Brookman
Andrew James Brookman, Writer/Author
Andrew Brookman is a talented writer who writes many genres, from Horror to murder Mystery to writing for children. Andrew Brookman just loves writing stories. His favourite genre is LGBTQ writing, both fiction and non-fiction stories for the LGBTQ community. Andrew is now focused on helping people who may have challenges with their sexuality, like he once did.
