Every now and then I think about how I would handle this situation had I been or were I to be confronted with it or other letters in the LGBTQ spectrum. Thank you for sharing and for setting a great and honest example.

PS: I just did a second read and highlighted much. The process of self-examination you embarked on and that continues is the process that anyone working a 12-step program goes through, particularly steps 4, 5, and 10. I advocate from time to time that every person could benefit from the spiritual wisdom of certain of the steps, https://medium.com/illumination/spirituality-redefined-ff45cb53eaf2. You provide a great example of how that would look and would be the proverbial poster boy, not from the perspective of "he needs it" but of "I want to be like him."