Matt Patterson

Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions that straight people have about gays is that “coming out” is a one time event, or at least that the number of times you come out is finite.  The reality is, we are always coming out to people, sometimes directly to people we just met, sometimes indirectly to people we don’t know at all (like wearing a red shirt at Magic Kingdom this weekend).  Since moving to Florida, I have generally had no problem communicating my sexual orientation to others, generally figuring anyone who couldn’t accept and respect me is not someone I want to associate with.  But I have been hesitant to come out at work, especially after hearing quite a few homophobic and heterosexist comments at work at Gay Days last year.  My department is not as “gay” as people usually think Disney to be, and there is a wide array of people who work there, so I was never sure how anyone would react.  Today, I took a risk, not only in coming to the park with my red shirt and rainbow Mickey pin, but also by going backstage to my location (I had a legit reason:  I needed to talk to the manager) and being right in front of everyone there.  And while there were some surprised faces, I did not have a single negative reaction.  And I guess, why would I have?  Those people who I’ve worked with respect me for the hard worker I am, not who I like.  And by seeing that sort of internalization, I can continue to self-internalize my sexual orientation, and so, in the words of the great Walt Disney, I can “keep moving forward, [and] opening new doors.”