Self-portrait - Radenka Grubacic

When I was thirteen years old, I felt attracted to a kindergarten female teacher. I was surprised
and overwhelmed at the same time. At first I thought about it as something perfectly
normal, because love is normal. I told my sister and a friend about it, but I was ridiculed and
was not taken very seriously. When I was sixteen, I finally came out to myself as a lesbian.
I was fully aware of my identity and I embraced it. But at the same time, I kept it a secret,
because I knew how homosexuality was perceived in the society, especially in smaller towns
like my home town. At a later age, I started to come out to some of my high school friends,
but they were not very supportive. At the university, I came out to almost all my friends and
they gave me a lot of support.