We often talk about coming out as a process that has a beginning and an end. You come out to your family, friends and once everyone knows, that’s it. You’re done.

It’s not true though. We keep coming out throughout our lives, to every casual acquaintance. That means that in the past month I got to come out to a whole whack of new people at the Nebulas, including the Tor admin and sales people we sat with at the banquet table. Alyx and I also got to come out to the staff at the new coffee shop up the street, and the new condo concierge.

In June, I get to come out to the new hire in Accounting (he looks like a nice guy) and my new dental hygienist (assuming he or she is chatty — they usually are). Probably a few other people too.

It’s always a risk. An increasingly small risk — nothing compared to what it was in 1989 — but a risk nonetheless.

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Kelly Robson’s short fiction has been published in Clarkesworld, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and at Tor.com. Her novella “Waters of Versailles” was nominated for a Nebula Award this year. She lives in Toronto.