It's time to break my silence. Today I come out of the closest to all of my fellow Penn State students not as gay, lesbian, transgender, or even an ally.

No, today I come out to my friends, my professors and my fellow Penn Staters as a conservative ("Conservatives are the group in the closet," April 8).

Reading this column was such a liberating experience for me. I felt for once that all my insecurities, all my questions, all my doubts were understood by a fellow (gulp) conservative.

I'm sorry but I didn't have a choice in the matter; I was born this way! Nobody asked me if I wanted to be conservative, nobody gave me the choice not to be white, not to be straight, not to be middle-class.

Perhaps one of the ugliest facts about myself I had to keep in the closet until now is ... (this is so hard) ... I was a Boy Scout. Yes, I confess it! I am an Eagle Scout; I am a Republican; I am a Christian; I voted for Bush and I'm proud. Please don't hate me for being how I am. Hate what I think, but don't hate me.

I want others like me to know that you're not alone! There are others like us out there. They look, act and talk just like normal people, except they wear a small multi-colored symbol to identify themselves and declare their pride--it's the American flag.

So, if you see someone, a fellow student, bravely wearing an American flag, a yellow ribbon, or any variation of the two, go up to them, shake their hand and congratulate them on their courage and bravery at a school which hates and looks down upon them so viciously.

Tell them they're not racist for disagreeing with affirmative action, that they're not a homophobe because they question the morality of homosexuality, and that they're not close-minded for being a Christian. Support them and love them. Conservatives are people too.