Hi, I have read many of the stories here, while thinking back on my own. I can't really say I ever came out as that suggests I was hidden away, and while like a few of you I am from the south and in my 40's now, for the most part I grew up on the west coast.
Add to that being a bi female, I never got the why's or any of that. It is only my mom and dad that never knew, with my mom's health as bad as it was I didn't think they needed any added stress. Then I lost them both the year I turned 25, so they never meet one of my girlfriends.
I did however tell my sister when I was in my late teens, guess you could say the biggest surprise there was I found out we where more alike that I had ever thought. As she is 11 years older we where never all that close.