MTV Canada and Clean & Clear | See The Real Me – Nadine

Growing up as a gay child I was definitely challenged by the world around me.

The main cause of my insecurity and apprehensiveness to expose myself was my Christian upbringing, misconceptions I had, and the homophobia that I had been exposed to from such a young age. As a result of this I suffered from anxiety. I did not understand sexuality therefor I did not accept my own.

In my early teens I definitely felt societal pressure to be someone I was not. As I entered middle school I tried to mask my sexuality.

Boys did not interest me as I was told they should have, and although I was still able to appreciate them, I could not continue lying to myself.

Initially I was terrified to come out. I thought it was some kind of huge ordeal that would get me in trouble and cause me to lose all of my support.

However, as I began opening up to people and sharing my secret it became a story that I loved to tell.

Self-acceptance is definitely a process and like any other kind of love it takes time and effort to build and maintain.

Finding positive gay role-models was helpful to me, and helped me to gain the confidence I needed to accept myself.

I went from being a totally uneducated scared little queer girl, to a strong queer activist in my community.

If you know me you've definitely heard me use the words "keep it real". I've learned that keeping it real is the single most important thing one can do in life. In a world where good hearted people are sometimes hard to come by, be the exception.