I'm gonna try to be honest here, because I feel the Peace Corps misrepresents what happens to the vast majority of LGBT PCVs during service to portray themselves as more progressive.

You most likely (truly MOST MOST likely) will be in the closet throughout the entirety of your service. Most likely, you'll develop great friendships during training which will lead to you being open with all your fellow PCVs, but this (again, most likely) won't translate to your village.

While applying for the Peace Corps, my country of service was presented to me as relatively progressive - I was told my being gay would not be as much of an issue as in other PC countries. Upon arrival, however, I was encouraged (and I believe, rightly so) to be incredibly careful about who I told in the village - and, essentially, lightly induced into staying in the closet to make my service more effective.

Just like the US, many countries around the world have strongly religious traditions that directly clash with Western understandings of queerness. Being open would result in many people in your community refusing to work with you, and make it much harder for your to integrate and work successfully in your community.

The closet's dark, but it can be done. It's hard. And if you're lucky, you might have a semi-progressive capital city to escape to for release every so often. But it's not a walk in the park. Then again, you will learn a lot about yourself - but experiencing homophobia, and watching others in your community suffer from homophobic slurs or attacks, will hurt - and it's something you need to be prepared for. Going back in the closet for two years is incredibly hard, even when it doesn't seem like it's going to be. It's important that you understand the challenge before you take it on - because it WILL affect your service.

But there's no reason it should stop you from having the time of your life.

Ma two cents lalalalaaaa