The life-changing event of coming out to friends and family is usually a sensitive, private matter for many LGBTQ people. But Dan McDaniel, a finance sophomore, decided to come out in a unique way – on MTV’s documentary series “True Life.” McDaniel said his original intentions were to not publicly declare his sexual orientation, but to party with six total strangers on “The Real World.” “I went to MTV’s website to check out becoming part of ‘The Real World,’ but I was too young,” he said “So I kept checking the site and found ‘True Life.’ I sent in my casting tape, and the camera crews were in Baton Rouge about a week later.” Even though this subject matter has been addressed before, and “True Life: I’m Coming Out” is not a groundbreaking episode theme, as it’s been done two times already, McDaniel believes that his portrayal is an update of what coming out is like in today’s culture. This unusual coming out process has been a long time coming. McDaniel said filming began in November 2011. “It took a span of seven months to film, but the camera crews only filmed for about seven days total,” McDaniel said. The camera and sound crew members shadowed McDaniel on big events such as his coming out party and the recent equality march held on the Capitol steps. They also got more everyday footage such as McDaniel hanging out with his friends. For his official coming out, McDaniel and “True Life” traveled to his hometown of Winnsboro, La., to tell his family the news. To keep it a secret, McDaniel said he had to tell his family that he was being filmed for a documentary about his life, which was “the truth but not the whole truth.” The news struck his family with disbelief. “My family was shocked,” McDaniel explained. “My mom didn’t believe me. She thought that maybe I was just confused or doing it for attention in front of the cameras.” McDaniel said he had conflicting feelings about the camera crews following him around. He explained that it’s not too hard to act naturally after a while because “you eventually just tune them out.” While shooting a scene where McDaniel was driving, the crew followed next to him in a separate car. “That made me feel like I had my own paparazzi.” McDaniel laughed. McDaniel said that the driving factor behind participating on the show was the fact that there was no turning back, and he would have to go through with telling his loved ones. “I felt like that was the only way I could do it,” he said. “I was going to have people flying in from New York City with cameras, and I had to do it. I was afraid I’d back out otherwise.” McDaniel said even though he originally signed up for the show for himself, he hopes that after the episode debuts it will help a lot of people, and they will be able to accept who they are. There is no official airdate for the episode yet, but MTV estimates that “True Life: I’m Coming Out” will premiere later in the summer, according to McDaniel.  
 
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