Val

If you guys hang out, do a lot of stuff together and have built a trusting friendship with each other, then I would just let him know. If you guys don't really hang out, then I would start asking him to do stuff that would interest both of you, like studying or sports. You'll know pretty quick if you want to pursue him.

Justin

You are a teenager now, and it is completely natural for you to want to develop an age appropriate courtship with one of your classmates. However, even the least complicated and most innocent of relationships are negatively impacted when the parties involved approach one another from a position of anything less than complete honesty about who they are. My impression is that you are not out of the closet. Your closeted status is perfectly acceptable, and you should feel no shame about it. If coming out of the closet would jeopardize your safety or emotional well-being on any level in any of your social spheres (home, school, church, extracurricular activities, etc.), you should remain in the closet. Remaining in the closet to protect your safety and emotional well-being is not a failure on any level. It is important to remember that anyone who would harm you is not entitled to know the truth of who you really are. It is 2011, and it pains me terribly to know that it is still necessary to remind gay youths that coming out of the closet involves risks to their safety and well-being. I pray that in your lifetime the day will come when it is unnecessary to remind gay youths of that fact, but it would be foolish to pretend that that day has already come. Unfortunately, not everyone has "been to the mountain top". Consequently, it is incumbent upon me to warn you not take the risks involved with coming out of the closet until you are fully prepared to do so. The boy to whom you want to reveal your true feelings is only twelve. You are also extremely youthful; and because of your youth, you naturally fail to grasp the truth that you cannot trust any twelve-year-old alive to keep any kind of secret whatsoever. You have to assume that if you come out to him, you will, in fact, be coming out not just to him, but to all of your classmates and everyone else in your life as well. If you are not prepared for that drastic consequence, you should delay revealing your true feelings to any of your classmates until a brighter day in the future when you are finally able to present yourself to everyone as the total person you truly are. Do not rush that day by denying the truth of your current circumstances. If you must remain in the closet in order to protect your safety and emotional well-being, honor that truth always. I cannot promise you that you will one day face no risks by coming out of the closet; but a day when you are fully prepared to face whatever risks are involved with coming out of the closet will, indeed, come. Today is not that day; but when that day does come, you will surely recognize it by an undeniable feeling in your head, heart, and gut. That feeling is known as your intuition. You should always trust your intuition, for it is God speaking to you.

I wish you fair winds and following seas.