Quote Originally Posted by ReineD View Post
But, if you go out close to home and the rumor mill gets going, it might affect clients' opinions of you at your job (and potential business), your membership in any organization you may wish to join, the amount of social invites you'll receive from friends, neighbors, and acquaintances, your potential dating pool if you're single, and if you're married with kids, your daughter's friends may not be allowed to have sleepovers at your house any more, and some of your wife's friends might drop her too.
Reine, I fully agree with the outlook on a job. No matter how relaxed many of us may be, the job specter always looms above us.

But to change an old saying, I wouldn't want to be a member of an organization that won't have me. If I went to the group to be a member and someone said "He dresses in woman's clothes" and then they don't offer me membership, they just did me a favor. I don't want to socialize with them anyway.

The same for friends as they wouldn't really be my friends if they rejected me for this. And I emphatically say very much so for the dating pool. We talk about telling before marriage or talk about relationship issues, so a potential partner rejecting me early would probably be a relief (although painful). Better earlier than later.