Honor Coming Out Day With Gay.com  

What advice would you have given yourself the year before you came out? Gay.com wants your stories -- funny, serious, inspirational--in honor of this year's National Coming Out Day.

Read on for information on how you can participate -- and possibly see your letter on Gay.com.

National Coming Out Day is held every October 11. It was created to raise awareness of the LGBT community, and because of that the media often focuses on famous names and their coming-out stories. But Gay.com is taking a very different approach to this very important event.

We're asking you, the members of Gay.com, to write yourself a letter -- a note from the person you are now to the person you were a year before you came out. What sort of advice or encouragement would have made your coming-out easier? Tell your younger gay self the things you wish you'd heard and known before taking that major step. These pieces can deal with history -- what your life was like during that year before you came out; convey emotion -- what struggles you faced; and offer insight into who you are today.

The notes can be funny, serious, inspirational -- the tone doesn't matter. What we care about is the honesty you put behind your words.

We're hoping that when these series of letters are put together that they create a kind of gay mosaic (a "homosaic," if you will) of what it means to be gay in a world that doesn't always understand you.

The stories will run from September 11 through October 11. For more information, e-mail NCOD@gay.com.