Coming to terms with myself at the age of 15, and after that, there were no reading materials for people to research or find comfort in hearing how other people either succeeded or failed in coming out, or how they built their own families and found love. The only thing I could find were books on people's first sexual encounters. While intriguing, it didn’t help me deal with or find comfort in how others related. Many times, suicide crossed my mind at the thought of telling my parents who the true me was. This project aims to reach people who, like me, saw no way out. To provide comfort in others’ stories so they can see that they are not alone.

While we are in different times, people are still suffering. Current youth are still out there suffering. Believe it or not – there are still youth out there who are unaware of the struggles LGBTQIA people endured in the previous decades leading up to the freedoms we all now have. I am very passionate about this project and that our stories and life events need to be documented to preserve our history and help show others how far we have come. While things are better now than they were many years ago, I firmly believe that we can create a better future by learning from the past and current situations. If these stories help save just one person's life, then we have succeeded – though our goal is to reach many more.

- Jason Roach

1. Submissions should follow the General Submission Guidelines under the Submissions page.

2. Submissions must be truthful. They do not have to be tragic. They do not have to contain happy endings. Everyone’s experience is different; that is what we want to share. We want to reach everyone with every kind of experience. Try not to sugarcoat things; if you're willing, dig deep.

4. All submissions are voluntary, with the understanding that compensation will not be provided. Everyone that submits a story will sign a contract stating this understanding and giving the rights to editing. (grammar and sentence structure. Your story will not be changed). At times, the original file may be returned to you for revisions.

5. No payment is required from any individual who chooses to submit.

6. Submissions with word document attachments should be emailed to Submissions@golddustpublishing.com with the subject titled “Coming Out”.