If the borderline obsession with styling every strand of my hair or my routine off-Broadway shower performances of any and all “Rent” songs didn’t give me away, I’m seriously stumped. Well, I always realized I wasn’t exactly like my male friends. For one thing, footballs always seemed to land on my face rather than in my hands and my range in music was constricted to Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys.

And just as 3.4 percent, according to Gallup, of Americans who identify as LGBT people choose to do, I came out. Did I feel obligated to? In many ways, yes. But did I feel obligated to come out on someone else’s conditions? Absolutely not. When I felt ready, I would come out for me, and I would come out for the new LGBT community I would join.

Examples need to be set and role models need to emerge for one reason: guidance. And if anyone was going to guide people toward acceptance, it was me. I wanted to set an example to my LGBT peers, to give them someone to talk to and, most importantly, to give them hope that they could be who they are and be alright.

Americans would consider many things obligatory: voting, obeying laws, paying taxes. However, many people don’t vote and they break laws and they dodge taxes. You can do as you choose. So yes, I chose to come out. But that doesn’t mean you have to.

There is an active and growing LGBT community. Gay marriage is legal in almost 20 percent of the U.S., and that percentage only keeps rising. Coming out means joining this community and a movement. There were movements for almost any minority group, like African Americans or women.

Those people too had to come out in a sense about something they believed strongly in but were not accepted by the majority. They too found empowerment in desiring freedom and fighting for equality by voicing their opposition and doing so loudly. The LGBT community is faced with a different challenge: Members cannot be identified by characteristics such as skin color or hair length. They are people of many countries and of every religion; there is clearly a need to reveal who we are.

Coming out means having a new voice. A voice with a louder tone that isn’t muffled by fear or suppression but amplified with confidence and a sense of belonging. I will continue to parallel the ideas of coming out and obtaining a new voice because it is that process that acknowledges our acceptance of and readiness to speak about a significant part of our lives. We have an obligation to come out, to form a community, to fight for our rights. There needs to be voices, and allies, to speak our opinions and tell our stories.

We must not forget that we are setting an example for not just future generations, but the present one as well. When we come out, we cannot forget those who are still struggling to do so. There have to be stories and experiences for LGBT youth that combat the people and institutions deeming their lifestyle invalid or more immoral than others.

I can recall a few months ago when a close friend’s brother contacted me, asking a lot of questions that I clearly knew were heading toward him questioning his sexual orientation. I knew for a fact that his family is extremely accepting, so I had to ask, why me? He said that he knew I was gay and that I had questioned my sexuality and still came out. That I hung out with a bunch of guys and girls and nobody ever seemed to make a joke. And that he knew he could tell his parents or his siblings, but that he needed to talk to someone who had been there.

I was now a role model for him, but what was my role? Simply to show other LGBT youth that it’s okay to be who you are, or as author and columnist Dan Savage might put it, it gets better.

There are those, such as I, who have had been privileged with supportive parents, school and community. But there are others who aren’t as privileged and may feel the need to shield their identities because otherwise they could be harmed.

This goes back to what I said about coming out being an obligation, not a necessity. It’s the obligation of those who can and feel confident enough to do so, and perhaps even show those who can’t that they don’t have to hide forever. It is not our obligation to push or pressure others to come out of the closet: They can open the door on their own.

We can come out for the sake of ourselves, to show everyone that we can maximize and thrive off of our most nontraditional qualities without letting them inhibit us. Or, we can do it for the sake of others, to show that we’ve been there and that support is a lot closer than they may think.

Adam is a junior in ACES. He can be reached at [email protected].