I came out to family first (my stepdad was the first person I told), and that went very well, so I wasn't particularly scared to come out. I told my friends, and there were 3 gay guys in my small friend group (who, collectively, were The Gays), so it also wasn't a big deal to them either. After that, people knew, I would be frank about it if it came up, but I went to an alternative high school in a kind of rural hippie town with lots of people who were weird in one way or another, and no one cared. I was never bullied for it or anything. I was fortunate to just be well-situated to not be afraid or ashamed, even though it was twenty years ago.