In my last job, I'd wear rainbow laces in my shoes, a rainbow lanyard, and two rainbow pin badges. At my current job, I only have one more subtle rainbow pin (recently purchased from the Manchester Shop) which I wear on my lanyard, as I don't really want to have too much that could get lost. Furthermore, I'd probably end up setting the metal detectors at work off if I go too near them!
It's a bit difficult for me to show my support for the LGBTQ+ community, not least because my parents (largely my dad, to be completely honest) aren't exactly supportive, which I guess comes with the territory of him being a Methodist minister who holds to the 'traditional' view on human sexuality. Given I'm gay, that makes it even more challenging, and it's safe to say that my mental health has taken a battering over the past ten or so years since I first realised I was gay at the age of 19. To keep it brief, it's been a huge struggle to reconcile my faith and my sexuality, and it's still a struggle to this day, though it's nowhere near as much of a problem now as it used to be.
In the past eight months, I've come out to my minister (different person to my dad) and a couple of members of my church, and that's been such a help to have a weight lifted off my shoulders. It's a struggle to be open about my sexuality among people at church (and also with family, though I think my older brother almost certainly suspects something by this point), especially when a number of them are VERY strong on the 'traditional' view of marriage, to the point where the minister wouldn't let me see the feedback she received regarding same-sex marriage as some of it was so vile. With anyone else, though, I'm just really open and honest. I just casually drop it into conversation and see how they react. Tends to work quite well. I do sometimes wear a small rainbow cross pin to church, but hardly anyone's noticed it so far, which I guess is partially because I don't get to go there very often now on account of working so many Sundays at the airport. In fact, the only person who's noticed it is my minister, and she clocked it almost instantly!
When I do finally come out to my parents, I'm not letting them force me to stay in the closet. I've had to hide a huge part of who I am for years, and it's so incredibly draining. To quote
Love, Simon, "I'm done living in a world where I don't get to be who I am." I'm trying to be subtly more visible with regard to my support for the LGBTQ+ community, but it's hard to know what to do sometimes, especially with clothing stuff, as Mum will often notice new things I'm wearing quite quickly. She's really observant like that.
It's part of the reason why I don't want to have any overly supportive messages on items of clothing at the moment, as it'd almost certainly invoke a few awkward questions before I'm ready to answer them. Sucks, but I have to keep my safety at the forefront.