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Best friends throw pal funeral-themed coming out party

Guests wore black and the room was decorated with black balloons, a "RIP straight Nicole banner" and a tombstone.

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By Hannah Phillips via SWNS

A group of best friends threw a hilarious funeral-themed coming out party for their pal to mark the death of her straightness when she revealed she was bisexual.

Nicole Maynard was always described as the 'token straight one' by her mates who are all LGBTQ until she came out after hitting it off with a woman at a 4th of July party this year.

@panda_elisee Threw a funeral for my straight best friend. She’s now my bi best friend HAPPY COMING OUT 🤪🫶🌈🌈🌈❤️❤️❤️ #lgbt #comingoutparty #bi #lesbian #greenscreen ♬ Death - Trippie Redd

Best friend Amanda Brown decided she wanted to make sure 27-year-old Nicole's experience was a happy one so threw a funeral party for the straight version of her on September 1st.

The 25 guests wore black and the room was decorated with black balloons, a "RIP straight Nicole banner" and a tombstone. Amanda, 27, even read out a eulogy.

Amanda looked back on memories of "straight Nicole," recited Justin Bieber lyrics and described how she "passed"- sharing the story of Nicole's first kiss.

Since sharing the video on social media it's racked up more than 220,000 views and hundreds of comments.

"I have always been the token 'straight' friend in the friend group and then after a break up with a man this year, I finally felt ready to explore my bisexuality," said Nicole, from Los Angeles, California.

"The idea of 'RIP Straight Nicole' took off, and then I decided there was no better way to celebrate my coming out than a funeral for my straight self.

"I told my friends the idea, designed an invitation, and my friends did the rest.

"The funeral was everything I could have hoped for and more. The effort put into decor and the eulogy made me feel so loved, I actually ended up crying.

"My friends were so excited to celebrate me - everyone committed to wearing all black, and I got so much love throughout the night.

"I have never felt luckier to have the friends that I do. My girlfriend was also there, and it was her first time meeting most of my friends, which was also very exciting."

Nurse Amanda and medical student Nicole have been best friends since they met in college nine years ago.

"Me and all my friends are gay and have been out for a long time. She's always been the token straight friend which has been funny," Amanda said.

"She's always been 'straight Nicole' so when she started dating a girl we were like 'dang RIP straight Nicole' and 'straight Nicole no more' and it snowballed.

"We decided to have a party, we thought it was a funny idea.

"It turned into a funeral and Nicole drafted an invite with a tombstone saying 'RIP straight Nicole' and we took it from there.

"I went to the Halloween store and got a tombstone and wrote on that as well, we got black balloons and rainbow-colored balloons and mixed them in.

"The dress code was all black - we got veils and the cups and shot glasses were black.

"We did a eulogy, we googled how to write one, and incorporated that into the speech.

"We shared a quote that was meaningful to the 'deceased,' which was Justin Bieber lyrics.

"We also had to share memories of the 'deceased' so I shared stories about her in college making out with frat boys.

"Then we described how the person passed so we had photos of her making out with her first girl and her with her girlfriend.

"It was funny and light-hearted and at the end we said how proud we were and [that] we hope she feels welcome.

"A lot of us have traumatic coming out stories so we're all super happy for her

"It's funny because she's one of my closest friends and we were asked if we expected it.

"Some said they saw it coming but I didn't see it coming. She was so excited, it was so cute so we were really happy."

Nicole had dated men all her life until she kissed a woman at a party and has since fallen in love with Alexa Thomas, 27, who she met on a dating app.

The pair have been an item for two months and Nicole says she's happier than ever.

Loved-up Nicole said she wasn't nervous about coming out to her friends because she knew they'd be supportive.

"I am truly the luckiest person in the world to have such supportive friends in my life," she said.

"Coming out to them felt like a really exciting and good thing rather than a scary thing.

"I know a lot of people don’t get to have this experience, so to say that I’m grateful is an understatement.

"I wasn't nervous about telling them at all, I knew my LGBTQ friends would be absolutely thrilled.

"They’ve joked about hoping I was gay for many years and my other straight friends have always been very open allies.

"I was most nervous about telling my family, but they have been totally supportive and loving.

"I had been talking to girls on dating apps for a couple months before July, but then hit it off with a woman on a night out.

"That was really the official moment where my friends found out.

"I met my girlfriend on Hinge a couple weeks after my official coming out and there was an instant spark.

"We’ve been dating for about two months now and I am so unbelievably happy.

"She makes me my best self. She also came out as bi in the past year, so we’ve really connected on our experiences."

After Amanda shared the video on social media, she was flooded with supportive comments.

"The comments have been so sweet, me and Nicole have been sharing them back and forth," she said.

"There's usually a handful of negative comments on social media but they've all been so sweet.

"People have been congratulating Nicole, saying they're so proud of her, welcoming her, saying everyone needs friends like this and they wish they could have done this but their coming out was traumatic.

"We gave her the experience we would have wanted. It was so much fun and we had the best time."

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