Speaking up for what you believe in and standing up for yourself aren’t always easy. Especially when telling your truth can have negative impacts on your relationships, the choice to be honest or stay silent can be a difficult one to make. When this truth is about one’s sexuality, research has shown that many young people struggle to open up to people around them. The Human Rights Campaign – an LGBT advocacy group – has published statistics showing that a great number of young people who identify as LGBT do not believe that their communities are accepting of their identities. In addition to this, many feel more comfortable being themselves online than in real life.

However, some figures might suggest that things are getting better. British LGBT rights charity Stonewall surveyed 1,500 people and found that people are now coming out at a younger age. When people over the age of 60 were asked when they came out, the average age was 37. In contrast, respondents under the age of 30 had an average coming out age of 21 while those aged 18 to 24 had an average coming out age of 17. These brave young people have pushed past the fear of being rejected and been true to themselves anyway, which makes them pretty inspiring. One such inspiration came in form of a young girl from Utah who not only mustered the courage to come out as an incredibly young age, but did so in a very public way.