What is your fondest coming out memory?

[*Anya*]

All of us can relate to the difficult times of coming out-regardless of our gender ID or our dynamic. There also are some fond, happy memories of coming out for many of us.

I knew I always was attracted to girls. My mom found me in the back seat of an old, junked 1940 car that was in the backyard of a friend's house in NJ. I must have been 7-8, She was 8-9. We were playing doctor or something of that nature-pants were off (haha). My mom had been looking for me, found us in a "compromising" act of some sort & dragged me home.

Fast forward to 1979 (yes I am old). My best friend & I had flirted for a year before we finally bedded each other. But we told ourselves we were really straight, maybe bi. We thought it would be fun to go to a gay bar-male, on New Years eve, a bar called Ripples.

My fondest memory of coming out to myself, totally, with my whole heart and soul was that night in Ripples. It was absolute joy for me that night! Dancing with her, with our tribe of men & women. It was the time of disco, blowing whistles, "Shake your groove thing, yeah, yeah" and we did! We danced constantly, fast and slow songs. You haven't seen anything until you have seen an entire club do "The Hustle" as one (younger folks-Google it). At midnight we joyously kissed, looked at each other & nearly the same time said: "I guess we are really gay"!

I will always remember that night fondly, when the New Year became 1980! It made all the rest of my coming out a little easier to recall the fun we had that night.

Postscript: after that, we only went to lesbian bars, we both realized we actually were attracted to butches, not femmes and within that year, went back to being best friends.

I thought of this thread because yesterday on the radio heard "Shake your Groove Thing" & smiled with the memories of that night.

What is your fondest, happy memory of coming out?