Life (UN)Closeted: LGBTQ+ Coming Out Stories & Advice for living out and proud!

Like a sneaking suspicion, or a bad Halloween nightmare, COVID19 hit the world and suddenly, we were all thrust into the closet. Isolation, fear, stress, uncertainty. If you've never hid in the closet, now you know what it is like. So what happens next? At some point we all hope to come out of this, but while you're in this closet are you exploring positivity or wallowing in negativity? Will you b...

A regular day, doing her regular life, left her realizing that hope was going to be the only thing that would get her through what she was about to experience. That same hope would lead her out of the closets of her life around obesity, her God given talents, and her belief in herself. Amy Downs, a college dropout turned CEO, shares her closet journey that has led her to living in a  choosing...

At the height of the gay marriage battle, she discovered her calling - being a gay wedding planner. Then suddenly a series of incidents found her explaining to the wedding industry what they needed to know to work with gay couples as they planned their big gay weddings. From that momentum, Bernadette Smith, Founder and President of The Equality Institute knew she was coming out of the closet to ha...

A golf game, a dare, and a life changing event that brought Tyler Schrenck out of a closet of his life that he never saw coming. From got it all going on, living an easy life with not a lot of intention, to suddenly having to depend on a group of people for his basic life necessities, Tyler shares how his closets helped him understand what was really the important stuff in life. About Tyler T...

No matter what the closet is that you are living in, in your life, there will always be some ridiculous level of guilt and shame associated with coming out of that closet. Guilt and shame of causing others pain. Guilt and shame of letting yourself or others down. Guilt and shame because you aren't playing by life's rules. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH! You will know you have come through the closet doors when...

It's January 2020. HIV and AIDS have now been in our world since 1983. We've gone from pandemic panic to people living productive, healthy lives. Yet, there is still stigma, and lack of education, and no one giving a light-hearted look at life with HIV and AIDS. But why would we? That would be blasphemous. Or would it actually help the cause. Enter Merce - an award-winning HIV-positive musical com...

He went from being a youth pastor to a conversation with his Dad about his destiny, to now running a highly successful online business, all because he uncloseted himself to go live his destiny. Now he has a brand new book out, The Successful Speaker - 5 Steps For Booking Gigs, Getting Paid, and Building Your Platform - which is fully aligned with his mission and business to help speakers be succes...

Men, boys, man boys - whatever you want to call the male species, seem to get their love and love making advice from tight lipped men, or loose lipped boys in the locker room. Neither usually serve them well and make them better men when it comes to love and love making. So let the tides shift, and invite the mother energy in to do the job of teaching men about love and love making. Natasha Ria El...

She already knows how to stand out in crowd. She's a STEM gal - science, technology, engineering, and math wizard. She's a woman in a mostly male dominated world - Chief Meteorologist at CBS 42 in Birmingham, Alabama. And, now she's coming out of the closet to live a minimalist life with her husband and three young kids...wait for it...in an RV. Not out of necessity, but out of choice. Loving what...

Unredacted. Raw truth, Nothing censored. No obscurity. It takes a lot of guts and a real sense of self to say, here's my story - unredacted. Yet, most of us feel the need to keep our truth from the world, or at least some of it. However, it can be very cathartic and freeing to say, this is my truth. Jim Koury, author of Unredacted, takes us on a journey of his raw uncensored truth as a gay man and...

Sometimes you gotta have faith, and then other times you realize that maybe not believing in God is more your truth. But what kind of crisis of faith causes you to stop believing and to live in the integrity of your own truth? Geoff Kullman shares his coming out of the closet to become an Atheist story and everything that entails from leaving his church to managing his relationships with his spous...

It’s about to be 2020. Or it might already be 2020 by the time you listen to this podcast. Instead of resolutions, how about creating a F*CK IT List to live by this year. It’s simple, it’s genuine, it’s honest, and it can be real if you put your mind to it. It’s also damn freeing. Your F*CK IT LIST can be your best friend this year, and here’s how to do it and succeed.

It’s Christmas Eve, or right in the middle of Hanukkah, but regardless of where you are or the holiday you celebrate, how about giving yourself some really good, non-materialistic holiday gifts this holiday season. The kind of gifts that truly improve your life and bring you peace. No more feeling the blues about these holiday gifts, because these gifts will make you one holly jolly happy person.

What do you do when you’ve built two successful companies, received awards for those companies, then move to Southern California, and you just do feel fulfilled? You come out of the closet at age 50, to become a championship Porsche 911 race car driver – and you don’t look back. Martina Kwan, kicked open the closet doors, entering a very male dominated sport, to show that you are...

Life is a series of rules. Or is life meant to be about breaking the rules? In reality, it’s a combination of both that require us to play with the rules and see where that takes us. As a Status Quo Disruptor, I’m all about breaking the rules…for good. I found my co-conspirator in breaking rules with Tanis Frame, creative play Ninja, who breaks the rules in order to help people t...

Now that was awkward. Or was it just your own self-imposed closet of feeling awkward? Too often that awkwardness is what keeps us in our closets. No one else will understand. I feel so weird talking about this. Other people will think I’m weird. All of these are just excuses for not realizing, we are all awkward in our own way, and way more alike than different. Vanessa Van Edwards, a recove...

Death is never pretty, easy, or something that we are trained to contend with in our lives. We know it is inevitable, but death by suicide is never anything that we can be fully prepared for, especially with it is a death by suicide by our child. It hurts, it brings up tons of questions, and it incites grief, anger, and blame. Yet at the core of the suicide equation is a mental health issue that n...

If you watch the news on a daily basis, you might feel like we live in a very toxic world. Or maybe, you find yourself in a relationship that is draining you. And, let’s not forget that you might be in a work environment that daily only brings out the BEAST in you instead of the BEST of you. Regardless of the situation, it’s time to release the toxicity from your life, especially as we...

Love happens. Or maybe we should say, attraction happens, even if it isn’t deep love. For some, that means the come out of the closet, then go back in. I know, I was one of those. For others, they believe they are gay, but based on family and societal pressure, religious beliefs, a distrust of oneself, or just downright confusion, some people give the heterosexual life a shot, only to find t...

Music lifts us, binds us together, and when it’s really done right, it makes us think, even if that thinking is about dark subjects that no one really wants to talk about. But if we don’t talk about things, those things win. So what happens when you take a stand and say, “They Won’t Win!” You get a talented, gay music duo (no they aren’t a couple) who is tacklin...

You’re moving along in life. Doing the thing that you do. Then suddenly, that life plan is no longer going the direction that you thought it would. Happens to all of us and it’s how we respond, not react that can make all the difference to moving ahead towards the life that you truly desire. Even if that means being a reluctant entrepreneur. Stephen Warley, a reluctant entrepreneur, ha...

No one with a logical head ever said, “I’m going to make a ton of money, then blow it all, just because I’m not happy to see if that brings me happiness!” Just doesn’t makes sense. Yet to be great, sometimes you have to literally make a ton of money to realize that many the…

Bullied in school. At 17 left at the crossroads of pursuing a career as a DJ or becoming a police officer, he chose, the badge. Even with the badge, the bullying continued, but he survived for 26 years in the line of duty working his way up the ladder, leading the status quo life, becoming…

Whether you’re exploring your sexuality, considering coming out, or recently out, one of the most often overlooked challenges in owning your truth. Yes, we own it to come out, but the own it I’m talking about is owning it consistently and with commitment. Doing your best to not falter. Standing in your values your way.…

You’ve come out, or maybe you’re only out to a few people in your life. You know the ones you can trust with your truth. Or maybe the ones you can’t trust but you don’t care because you are going to live your life. Cool. Now it’s time to start dating and mating. Maybe you’ve…