Barb Genton was an elementary school teacher in a small, conservative town and remained closeted for most of her career.
“I remained closeted and I dressed thinking that I was fooling a lot of people. I was very uncomfortable in that attire, and when I say that, I’m talking about dresses, skirts, pantyhose, the whole thing. I was very uncomfortable. But in order to keep my job, maintain my job, those are things we did back in the day.”
After a breast exam, sonogram, and biopsy, Barb was told she had breast cancer. She used that as an opportunity to come out and be more comfortable with who she was.
“That allowed me to be more comfortable in my skin. So I changed my attire, I changed my mannerisms, I changed my talk. On my desk were pictures of my partner, of our cats, and our home.”
Continue Reading to watch Barb’s Video Story as she continues to talk about her coming out as an adult, and a humorous moment about how she kept one single outfit from her earlier days and wore it as a Halloween costume, as her former self.
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