As many others have said, coming out is a process that usually takes years. (I think this was especially true in the past but the process may be faster today.) So most gay folks have not just one but many stories of coming out. Emotions are almost always involved and these can vary widely. Fear on the part of the person coming out is common especially when it first takes place and particularly when coming out to family and friends. There can be elation when there's a positive response and deep hurt when there's not. There can also be some situations that wind up being a bit of a hoot when considered after the fact. I'll recount one that happened to me below the squiggle.
Although it may be hard to imagine today, decades ago, the US government frowned on allowing openly gay people into the country for permanent residence and citizenship. There was a section on the INS questionnaire where you had to answer questions about having committed "crimes of moral turpitude." Sometimes that catchall category was stretched to included homosexuality. During the 1960's and especially after Stonewall in 1969 the struggle for gay rights accelerated. By the time I arrived in the US on a student visa in 1973 I knew I was gay but opted to stay in the closet and rarely ventured out to either the local gay club or community center. I was concerned in part about the immigration issue.
My first job I was able to stay on the student visa for "practical training" but by 1982, it was time to pursue a green card for which my company was prepared to sponsor me. There was a lot of red tape to go through but eventually everything was ready and I got notified to come in for the official INS green card interview. That's when I began to get concerned about the old "crimes of moral turpitude" questions and so I decided to get legal advice from a well-regarded immigration attorney. This would be my first time coming out to a straight person.
When I arrived at the lawyer's office, I was ushered in by his secretary and we began to discuss my "case." I had brought all my documentation and we spent some time bringing him up to date on where I was in the process. After he had reviewed my paperwork, he said everything looked to be in order and then asked why I needed his help. I took a deep breath - remember I still hadn't come out to anyone who wasn't gay - and said something to the effect of there may be a problem because I'm gay. There was a pause. "Gay?" he asked. With that, he got up and walked over to his office door to close it before returning to sit down again. We then got into a discussion about the crimes of moral turpitude question, the types of questions the INS examiner might ask and how to answer. He consulted a couple of his books but he concluded that it was highly unlikely that the issue would ever come up in the interview. Still, he gave me explicit instructions if it did: the key would be to give an answer that was neither an admission nor a lie - I guess that's something lawyers are good at doing! But he still insisted they would never ask and not to worry (and he was ultimately right about that.)
At that point, I was prepared to leave but then out of the blue, the attorney confided that he himself had once had a gay experience when he was a teenager and he had always worried if he might have "tendencies". I was a bit taken aback by this "coming out" but quickly responded that kids experiment and what you might do as a youngster doesn't necessarily have implications for your sexual orientation. That discussion seemed to give him a bit of relief, we shook hands and I left. I guess we both learned something that day. I would later joke with folks that I should have presented him with a bill for counseling services!