The internet is a finicky place. There are endless amounts of vile hatred towards specific populations of people who are simply different. Whether they practice a different religion, embrace a different culture, identify as a specific gender or sexuality, or sleep with their socks on, there is hatred geared towards any one specific population of people on the internet.

Yet, we, as people spend endless amounts of time there. We look for any source of entertainment, amusement, self-assessment, or even inspiration there. For me, however, the internet provided me a source of community and a place of belonging amongst people. Some of whom, by the way, I’ve never spoken with or met. But they’re my family.

In December of 2010, I God forsakenly made the decision to come out to my parents, having long before that deciding to come out to friends. This is not a story that is about coming out per se, but more so about what coming out has done for me since 2010. Where coming out has taken me, who it has helped me become, when coming out is necessary, and why it was the best decision I had ever made. There is no if about this. Coming out gave me the courage and inspiration (even almost years later) to become who I needed to be.

When it comes to the internet, social media is without a doubt a fundamental part of it. I do not necessarily define myself as a thirsty Instagram user, posting shirtless selfies in exchange for likes and/or follows. On Twitter, social commentary is aplenty where I myself post thoughts that I find amusing, alongside tweets calling out sexism and any type of discriminatory language or behavior I can find.

It really is a beautiful thing to tell an anonymous user from Georgia that his views on women are both outdated but sexist, and make him a disgusting pig. But all of this aside, social media is where the hashtag #BeTrue lives. It derives from the notion that we, each and every single one of us, needs to be authentically and unapologetically ourselves about who we are. Gay, straight, individual of color or Caucasian, whatever. These individuals are the people for whom I continue to life by the notion #BeTrue.

By living through the notion of #BeTrue, I stand strong in who I am as a person. I am a 25-year-old male who identifies as gay, who loves basketball more than any other sport known to man, who strongly believes Ariana Grande is routinely underappreciated. All of this, all of these things in my life that I identify as, make me who I am. 2016 challenged all of these notions for myself, and I am sure they did for you. But I cannot nor should we allow this past year to discourage us from being who we are. Every minute, of every day, without resistance. After all, if we allowed for these past experiences in life to stop us, would we #BeTrue?