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September 17, 2016 12:43 am  #11


Re: When is it "outing" someone and when is it "telling the truth?"

Cameron wrote:

Hi June - If you register on this site we can privately communicate. 

Just from the little you've said it sounds like you were betrayed in such an incredibly painful way that you're still reeling from the hurt of it.  Being betrayed that brutally doesn't make you a narcissistic sociopath - it's actually quite understandable that you'd need to work hard to make sense of what happened.  I'd love to help, if at all possible.

I will register. Thank you

 

September 17, 2016 12:58 am  #12


Re: When is it "outing" someone and when is it "telling the truth?"

Rob wrote:

June,
.." ex called me a narcissistic sociopath .."

..and you believe him why?  I've learned in the last year and half if my exs lips are moving shes lying.
So many horrible things she said and combined with the cheating and betrayal..well she has no integrity or morality.  How here and her girlfriend can promise each other anything and be believed I do not know.
Just remember to act indifferent around him else you have to listen to the crap.

 

I don't know why I believe him. I don't know why I think of myself like that. I don't feel that I am. I don't know but it's been in my mind from the day he said it

 

September 17, 2016 8:35 am  #13


Re: When is it "outing" someone and when is it "telling the truth?"

June

I hear you.  Their hurtful words pierce us like swords.  My ex knows me and knows how to make me feel bad. She had decades to learn and perfect this.  The problem now is I question everything she says because I've been gaslighted so many times.  So if she told me the sky was blue I would question it. She seems to be rewriting the past now and all I can do is watch ..like the rain.  The real problem is their credibility now I think..with 90% of what they scream at us as untrue to me the 10% true stuff can't be believed.

But yeah their words resonate with us taking on truth and credibility.  Add to that the third parties they bring in to validate them and we're left feeling doubtful and bad without doing or have done anything.  Through this whole thing I was shocked at the horrible things being attributed to me..I was a good husband..I was kind ...and I would never do anything to hurt her. But to her I am a monster.

I think the words sticking with you proves your not a narcissist...a narcisstic would not care about the words and forget them in a second.


"For we walk by faith, not by sight .."  2Corinthians 5:7
 

September 20, 2016 12:42 am  #14


Re: When is it "outing" someone and when is it "telling the truth?"

Your so right Rob, the people that he has believing him makes me mad. Some of my so called friends have turned. He calls me crazy a liar. Now I know everyone tells a lie sometimes. However his lie or as he says no we weren't together. We were just friends wtf. I'm so scared that I won't find love, or that it's going to be 25 later and I'm still here hurting.

 

October 5, 2016 12:53 am  #15


Re: When is it "outing" someone and when is it "telling the truth?"

jkpeace wrote:

Bryon,

I like the way you ask this question.  My husband does Not want to tear apart our family.  He does not want his SSA.  If he could take away that part of himself, I know that he would.

He does not want a divorce, but we are both the monogamous type; an open marriage would not work for either one of us.

You are correct:  Every time I asked if he was gay, he felt attacked, though that was never my intention.

I am very interested in Cameron's response.

JK

 

October 5, 2016 12:51 pm  #16


Re: When is it "outing" someone and when is it "telling the truth?"

I've just joined this fascinating thread. Thank you to ByronM, Cameron and others for an engaging Q&A on the subject of 'outing' vs 'the truth.' I should disclose that I am a gay man, formerly married to the mother of my three children, and now living on my own. I came out four years ago when my wife asked me whether I was gay. It was a huge relief to finally say to another human being, "I'm gay."

​Some of you may be familiar with Dan Savage, the author, sex columnist, and gay rights champion. I tend to echo his thoughts on coming out. We live in an era of unparalleled acceptance of the LGBTQ community.  Anyone who is: employed; living in the North America; and not living under the threat of religious persecution has an obligation to come out. Since coming out myself, I now have a large group of gay friends and my boyfriend was unabashedly closeted. And I've found a common theme among my still closeted friends. They all live under the illusion that no one knows they are gay when, in fact, EVERYONE knows. They're all just hiding it, starting with the gay person in denial. I can only speak from my own personal experience. When I came out to my friends and family, I'd estimate that a strong majority of people already knew. In fact, most were relieved when I said it because they were suffocating because of a stupid secret.

The dynamic is almost exactly like alcoholism. Alcoholics are almost always surrounded by enablers (or co-dependents), starting with their spouses and (later) children. Mom hides dad's alcoholism, "Dad was just overserved," the children follow mom's example, and the family transmits this sort of 'don't discuss it' web that traps everyone. While I admit addiction and homosexuality aren't the same thing, secrets and denials apply to both situations. Let's be honest, in our day and age no adult is going to be killed because he/she is gay. I found the secret was much more a toxic burden than just telling the truth.

​So what's my point? Many of you have described your former gay spouses as narcissists. Narcissists almost always marry co-dependents who will do anything for them. And this means protecting them as well. So I say, tell the truth. "Bill is gay and that's why our marriage ended. Period." If anyone wants more information, just tell them to contact your former spouse directly. No one is going to die because they learn your spouse is gay. (I was often disappointed by the ho-hum way people took my news.) And your former husband isn't going to jump off a bridge because everyone knows he likes penis more than vagina. Most people suspected it already. Yes there may be some chirping and lots of denial from your closeted ex, but he/she is no longer your problem. I say free yourself from their closet.     

 


  

 

October 5, 2016 1:23 pm  #17


Re: When is it "outing" someone and when is it "telling the truth?"

I agree with Sean.  We're not living in a Muslim country where outing our ex means he'll have his head literally cut off.  It's OUR life, too.  We should be able to say why our own marriage ended, no matter the reason.  Most people who don't love your spouse (his family, friends) won't care all that much anyway - it makes no difference to them.  And the people that care eventually come around, for the most part.  If they don't, then so be it.  It is what it is.

I tell people all the time that my ex was gay.  I'm not quite sure why except that I love to talk, I'm very open, and it usually gets a pretty good reaction.  Perfect strangers will tell me that it must have been difficult to get through that, or ask how long it took to come out on the other end.  I tell them not as long as it would have if I'd still been in love with him.  They will ask very general questions like "Did you know anything was wrong?" Yes, yes I did.  And then I use the next sentence to educate them just a bit about the gay thing - just in case it ever happens to them or someone they love.  I say, "I belong to an online bulletin board for straight spouses.  And the one thing I realized after reading so many stories there was that unless the spouse admits to being gay, you're not sure if they are - despite whatever evidence is there.  And they almost NEVER admit that they're gay."  I want the world to know that one thing above all else, because it really IS what confuses most of us - are they REALLY gay???  For the majority of us, once we have that answer, we can move on - albeit slowly.  I try to convey to people that without the gay spouse's admittance, WE don't *know*.

Kel

Last edited by Kel (October 5, 2016 1:27 pm)


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