Influencing friends...

[xMetalxMachinex]

Does coming out to friends encourage them to come out exclusively to you and if so, how long does it take for them to do so? I don't feel the need to "come out" per say, but if I feel like someone should know then I'll tell them. I ask this just because I think it's a question that could help me and other people a lot.

My friend posts some pretty suspicious stuff on facebook and his kik and email addreses are very feminine, but he also posts a lot of stuff about girls and their... body parts. If I came out to him, would he feel more confiding in me?

I wonder this about many people. Please share your thoughts.

[Bmble_B]

Hmm...Well yes, coming out to someone would give them more confidence to come out to you. They would know definitely that you would be okay with it. It depends on the person though, even though I came out to my friend (now best friend) it took him at least a year to come out to me. So unfortunately, there is no set in stone answer for your second question.

[xMetalxMachinex]

Wait so you come out to this friend, he doesn't come out to you for a whole year???

[Bmble_B]

Wait so you come out to this friend, he doesn't come out to you for a whole year???
Yeah, earning his trust is a challenge if you're not best friends with him :P

[Bluebyrd]

I can't speak from personal experience here but I would certainly imagine that if someone was to trust me with a big secret, I would be more likely to trust them with mine.

[ska8er]

What if u both r in the closet and either one
of u is hesitant to make any move to comment ?
Unless u have a sense of gardar of the other friend
its unwise to make someone uncomfortable and in
turn ruining that friendship. It is great for someone
to come straight out and say how they feel but I think
in teens u have to do it carefully.

[kyrocks03]

In my situation, what happened was my friend and I were at the experimenting with each other stage. Neither of us had ever experimented sexually with anyone else. Eventually the experimenting led to making out and kissing, rather than just jerking off together. Once we started actually making out, I told him how I felt about him, and that I like boys, and he said that he feels the same way. So it took one of us to confide in the other, and then the other come out at the same time.

[DoodleSnap]

I have to say, that as someone who is still "in the closet", I feel immensely more comfortable coming out to people who have told me about their sexuality, because I know that they won't have the knee-jerk reaction that some straight people will have. I know that they will understand some of what I have been through. So, yeah, if you were to come out to someone, I'd expect them to be more likely to come out to you, if they were considering it. Ultimately, though, it depends from person to person.