#TeamMindshare shares stories for National Coming Out Day

Today is #NationalComingOutDay (11^th October) and we’re celebrating and supporting the LGBTQ+ community who have come out about their sexuality, are getting ready to come out or never want to. 

Today, members of our Mindshare Pride community have shared their personal coming out stories. 

Ben Chadd, Client Partner, Mindshare UK 

“My early twenties were full of laughter, joy, and parties, shared with friends and families, starting my career in media, and moving to the big smoke. Whilst it’s a time I look back upon fondly, I also struggled with my own sense of belonging and identity, never truly feeling comfortable to be my true and whole self. At the age of 24, after a few false starts, I knew this had to change and made the step to finally reveal who I really was to friends and family. The panic, anxiety and fear were all very real, creating scenarios in my head about the breakdown of friendships and family relations. What is now termed ‘#comingoutchristmas’ in the Chadd household, I finally revealed that I was gay in a teary, wine laden chat. The sense of relief was huge, unburdening myself of the mask I had been wearing and the constant fear of slipping up. A weight had been lifted and my ‘secret’ was out. While it took some time to really own who I am with pride, I look back fondly on the strength and courage I gained from those years. I now live my life as an immensely proud (and recently married) gay man.” 

Callum Jewell, Account Manager, Mindshare UK 

“My coming out story had two elements. Firstly, coming out to my parents, which despite a lot of nerves from me was completely plain sailing. But it was forced due to being forcibly outed at school by someone I saw as a friend. He’d looked at my emails when I walked away from my laptop in the common room and saw an email from a local LGBTQIA youth organisation I’d just joined. He forwarded himself a copy of the email and that night posted it all over social media and for everyone at school to see. Which left me sick to the stomach about returning to school the next day. I went in to sixth form trying to keep as anonymous as possible but could feel people looking at me straight away. After a morning of the odd “so I see you’re gay now” and “I hear you fancy men” I didn’t have any negative comments made towards me and people actually started to turn on my former friend as they realised what he did was an incredibly hurtful thing to do, and all my closest friends remain my mates today.”