If you're planning on going out in places where you will not run into anyone you know, you'll be fine. I agree, who cares what people think whom you'll never see again. You'll find that most people will be polite and they will keep their opinions to themselves.Originally Posted by Delila
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.
I hate it that it's like this, not everywhere, but in many if not most areas.
Edit BTW, my SO and I have been out in public for years (she's out on average twice per week) and we go everywhere: coffee shops, restaurants, galleries, movies, shopping ... but in the next town over, not in our own town. She does not want to deal with her peers at work knowing and I don't blame her. And there are some people in my life and her life that we don't want to disclose this to.
