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The Danger of Hiding Who You Are with Secret Keeper Morgana Bailey

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The Danger of Hiding Who You Are with Secret Keeper Morgana Bailey

Grow Big Always podcast

Grow Big Always,

5 min read
5 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Keeping secrets can make you a stranger to yourself.

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Editorial Rating

5

Qualities

  • Overview
  • Background
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Coming out is a big moment for anyone in the LGBTQ+ community, and Morgana Bailey made hers even bigger by coming out in a TED talk that eventually reached millions. Prompted by worrying statistic about how being inauthentic affects life expectancy, Bailey decided to take the plunge and finally be honest about her sexuality. In this episode of the Grow Big Always podcast, host Sam Lawrence talks with Bailey about what she’s learned since that experience, how being truthful has changed her life, and how people can support LGBTQ+ people in communities that are less than accepting.

Summary

A gay, lesbian or bisexual person living in an accepting community lives an average of 12 years longer than those in anti-LGBTQ+ communities.

Living in the conservative Midwestern United States, Morgana Bailey wasn’t only fearful of coming out as a lesbian; she actually didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that she was gay. She got married to a man, and got a divorce one year later. A statistic in an activist magazine was the wake-up call she needed to come out: She read that gay, lesbian or bisexual people in accepting communities lived an average of 12 years longer than those in anti-LGBTQ+ communities.

Coincidentally, this happened at a time when she was also planning to deliver a TED talk. Coming out during her talk would force herself to be her authentic self with work colleagues and allow her to start being open about her sexuality privately as well.

Being accepted as bisexual can be difficult in straight...

About the Podcast

Grow Big Always is a weekly podcast about learning from people with unusual stories. Host Sam Lawrence is an entrepreneur and founder of several internet companies. Morgana Bailey is a human resources activist who advocates for honesty and diversity in the workplace. Her TED talk has more than three million views.

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