🏳️‍🌈 I shared my coming out story with the Huffington Post.

"'This is who I am,' I thought. ... It was one of the happiest moments of my life."

Big day today! My first essay for the Huffington Post has just been published. I wrote about my Catholic childhood, recovering from sexual abuse and coming out at 33. 

Here’s a short extract (& a photo of my seven-year-old self): 

Tartan + overalls = peek queer fashion 👀

Of all the people I thought I might grow up to be, a lesbian wasn’t one of them. I never fantasized about women or imagined loving them. I didn’t have crushes on women or crave their attention.

I was born in ferociously Catholic Ireland. My mother was very religious. Before getting married, she almost became a nun. I have only one photograph from that time in her life, a novice habit framing her kind, questioning eyes. I imagine her living in the echoey rooms of an old convent, among a colony of young women, their days punctuated by prayer, their heads bowed in reverence toward the god that guided their lives. Her days were embroidered by women, their rhythms and interests, the way women think and talk and feel. That sounds heavenly to me, though not in the way the church intended.

Huge thanks to my editor Emily McCombs who has been a pleasure to work with throughout this process too! 

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