About Coming Out Stories
Presented by Emma Goswell, Coming Out Stories will take you to one the most important moments in many people’s lives.
It will perch you on sofas in suburban sitting rooms, stand you in front of officials’ desks, put you at the centre of a crowd in a noisy classroom, everywhere where these conversations have happened.
It doesn’t even matter if you haven’t had a conversation like this yourself, or indeed ever plan to. Everyone can recognise the innate human desire to love and be loved, and that’s what these stories are about.
Coming Out Stories: The Book
Published in January 2021, Coming Out Stories is now available in print form!
Esteemed TV Writer and Producer Russell T Davies said of the book:
- This is written with so much heart. It’s full of love and hope and liberation. Even the tougher stories are told with strength and the potential for change. From Stonewall, to Jamaica to Canal Street, the writers speak with such honesty and insight, it’s thrilling. And they’re hilarious too! This book is so vital, it’ll be a talisman for so many, a beacon, a path out of the shadows. It should be in every school and home, to reach out to those in need, or those remembering their own journey. It made me cry, it made me hoot, it made me rage and it made me think. I think, really, I learnt from this. The book contains so many voices from the next wave of queer identity, it taught me better ways to talk and react and help. That’s wonderful!
Coming Out Stories: Personal Experiences of Coming Out from Across the LGBTQ+ Spectrum is available from all good book shops including:
From Amazon Reviews:
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I have to say I wish this book had existed at all the points of my life when I was thinking about coming out. The stories aren’t all positive to start with, but the ones I’ve read so far do demonstrate that no matter what happens in the initial moment, things do get better. They might not look how we hoped but it will be okay.
S
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Would be a great handbook for teachers , counsellors etc. Highly recommended. We need more books like this.
A. P. Holt
The Latest Episode of
Coming Out Stories
You can grow up surrounded by farmland and still feel like you’re living on another planet.
Kris Saim joins us from Kansas City to talk about what it means to carry secrets for decades.
Kris shares a raw coming out story shaped by childhood sexual abuse, the fear-driven silence it creates, and the deep imprint of Pentecostal teaching that labels gay people as sinful.
Kris also grew up in the AIDS crisis era, when misinformation and panic made being a young gay person feel dangerous even before you could begin to explore your own identity. From marrying his best friend to becoming a dad, he explains how “doing the right thing” can sometimes be another way of hiding.
What changes the trajectory is a deliberate choice to live authentically. We talk about coming out first at work, the surprising power of being believed and embraced, and then the harder conversations that follow with a spouse, parents, and children. Chris also discusses building a respectful co-parenting setup that his kids carry into their own relationships, proof that family can evolve without losing love.
Chris is the host of powerful podcast, Dying Out Loud, created while he lives with stage four cancer. Built around letters he wrote to the people who shaped his life, it’s a legacy project and a challenge to all of us: stop postponing the words that matter.
Find out more about Chris and hear his podcast at: dyingoutloudpodcast.com
Presented by Emma Goswell
Produced by Sam Walker
We'd love to hear YOUR story. Please get in touch www.comingoutstoriespodcast.com or find us on twitter @ComeOutStories and on Instagram @ComingOutStoriesPod
We have a book! Coming Out Stories is available at all major shops now!
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Coming Out Stories is a What Goes On Media Production