Being young can be an exciting time: meeting new people, doing new things, having fun. But for gay and bisexual men, being young can sometimes be complicated. This is the time of our lives when many of us realise we're gay or bisexual. Unfortunately, most of us haven't been very well prepared for this. So, sometimes it takes time to recognise that being gay or bisexual is a good thing. And it can be tough to find acceptance and understanding from the people we care about. That's why "coming out" can be scary - we don't know how friends or family will react. It's important to know that coming out is a process that happens in different ways for different people. It's up to each of us to decide to whom we come out and when we feel comfortable enough to do it. If you are thinking about coming out there are people and organizations that can offer help and support (see the list at the end of this brochure).

Many of us come out in another way - into the community in which we start to become sexually active with other guys. This can be both exciting and scary. Most of us have heard about HIV and AIDS. But we don't have to be scared. There's lots we can do to have sex safely. We just need to know how to protect ourselves from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) - including HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS.