So … I guess this is the part where we reveal that we came out at work a few weeks ago! It was very exciting, and we are now out in basically every aspect of our lives — there are only a few places we still choose to hide. So … yay! we tried to think of a better “this is us coming out it is kindof plot for a comic based on our lives..?” comic … but the process wasn’t really funny … or quick .. so it was hard to make into a comic. Anyway, we’ll probably write more about that later; for now, I hope you enjoy these two amusing true anecdotes from our coming out experience.

Oh, and just in case any of our coworkers stumble across these comics and think “Hey, I don’t look like that!” your appearances have been scrambled to protect the innocent, it’s not just that we forgot what you look like!

===BONUS Conversation we had while making this comic===

Z: Hold on! I am NOT a weeaboo.

B; Z, NOBODY self identifies as a weeaboo; how many animes do you watch?

Z: Oh, lot’s of people like anime!

B: Uh-huh, and they all watch it in Japanese too … how many manga transliteration sites do you have memberships on?

Z: um….

B: Is it more than zero? Because if it’s more than zero –

Z: Oh shut up! I like American things too! I play DCUO.

B: OK … so you play an online game where you dress up in a cape and pretend to fly around with superman …. and you think this makes you LESS of a dork somehow?

Z: You’re just jealous because my character is higher level than yours.

B: Touche.

…

Anyway, yes. We hope that this comic wasn’t too much of an inside joke for people who know us. It’s funny how when you’re very close to someone, headmate or otherwise, you wind up picking up on a lot of their interests whether you really want to or not.

Also, yay for actually getting a comic up on time!

There’s a few undertones to this comic so maybe it bears some explanation just in case — the inspiration for this came from a conversation Z had with a friend about how it’s funny that there seem to be stereotypes people form about their own and related groups once you’re “in” the group that don’t line up AT ALL with Hollywood and other popular stereotypes which tend to be just completely unrealistic.

For example, every glbt person we know talks about being on “Gay Standard Time” — a joke about gays always being late.
Then there’s little things with being trans like “trans men slouch a lot, and many of them are super excited and bouncy” or “Trans women are way too self conscious and also they all dress like old ladies so as to cover up completely.” And of course as touched on in this comic “Trans people are an elitist clique that doesn’t want to associate with any other gender-non-conforming group (like transvestites or cross dressers).” A previous comic of ours touched on one of my favorites, “Multiples LOVE character customizers and avatar makers.” That one’s widely known amongst the HM crowd but I challenge you to find it anywhere in popular culture.

With all of these there is some kernel of truth and usually some good reason for it (ie: trans people getting sensitive about being called transvestites because it basically means that their gender isn’t being taken seriously. Having your core identity mistaken for a sexual fetish really isn’t a pleasant feeling…) And like other stereotypes, there’s also usually something negative people work to avoid (like being overly sensitive or vain, or overly exclusive or bigoted towards people from other non-conformist groups.)

These stereotypes aren’t necessarily TRUE, and there are certainly exceptions — that’s why they’re stereotypes. It’s just amusing to us that the stereotypes you see on TV and in various media seem completely oblivious to these and instead focus on a set of stereotypes that seems like they were made up by someone who’d never actually met any gay or trans people because they really have almost nothing to do with reality at all…

Well sorry to those of you that this was all completely obvious to, and I hope you enjoyed the comic anyway! I know for some of our readers this has been a first introduction to these sorts of topics so I thought I’d throw in a little 101 blurb ^_^

-B

Sorry for the late update, it’s been a super hectic week for us!

Anyway, yes, this happens to us from time to time. We can both be present pretty easily; both observe, even comment internally and talk to each other. But when it comes to interacting with the outside world, those silly little things like “moving” and “talking” that come up every so often, we find that it’s best to have one person in sole or at least very strong control of the body itself.

-B

UPDATE: Fixed scaling and date of image, uploaded transcripts. Sorry for the initial lapse!

We’re continually amazed by how different this part of the country is from where we grew up. We had always assumed that the USA was pretty similar all around in it’s attitudes towards gay and trans people, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. It’s like being in two totally different countries or two totally different eras.

Both of the incidents the R.A. is mentioning in the comic really happened at our college, though not in the same year. There was a violent hate crime that we knew about every year we were there, and given how few people knew about those, probably many more we didn’t know about. In our new home city, people at PRIDE groups and safe space training tell horror stories of the guy who came to work to find his family pictures turned over … it’s an incredible world of difference, and so incredibly freeing!