The traumatic effect of growing up in a world where we must hide the truth of our strongest feelings causes our development to stall. We aren’t able to have a normal adolescence where we experiment with who we are and receive the critical reflection of those around us that helps us to create a secure identity. Instead, we must hide, presenting to the world a fabricated version of ourselves until the day that we are free to express our sexuality and step out of the closet of shame. For so many of us, the experience of truly coming out comes too late, and the impact on our identity formation is
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