MY coming out STORY at 48: cleo
I grew up with 8
brothers and 3 sisters.
My sisters loved wearing dresses and looking cute. But I, like my
brothers, loved wearing jeans and gym
shoes. They seemed
to have more fun doing things I liked to
do: softball, basketball, hopping fences
and jumping from the
rooftops of garages. I
knew then something
was different about
me.
Standing 5’10” at 15
years old, I decided
to join my high school
basketball
team,
which was a green light for me to carry my ball to
school everyday. When school was out I could always be found at the local field house. As I look
back I remember being called a dyke, tomboy
and many other names. I didn’t understand this
because I liked boys!! In my senior year, I decided
to hide that part of me and look more like what society thought I should. I figured this would put an
end to the name-calling and weird looks…or so I
thought.
I watched my sisters and began dressing more like a
girl,