Happy Bisexual Awareness Week, guys!
When I was 17 years old, I was still in high school, a small, super religious high school. I’m sure I was not the only LGBT student there, but given how religious the school was, no one else was out of the closet. I didn’t know a lot about LGBT, but I did know that I was attracted to both men & women. I didn’t even know there was a name to it. I didn’t even know Bisexual was an actual word, let alone a label that I would later use for myself.
I stayed in the closet for about 5 years, until I was 22. I was trying to figure myself out and I really wanted to know who I was before I told anyone else. Not to mention, I knew I was going to be told I was going to hell by my super religious grandmother, and I wanted to wait to come out until I knew I could deal with that.
Taking a class on sexual orientation in college proved to be the best thing I could have done for myself. It helped me feel more confident, even though initially I was toying with telling people I was a lesbian instead of bisexual.
In the beginning, sometimes saying I was bisexual felt like I “couldn’t decide” or that “I wanted the best of both worlds” Both of those statements are often made by people who don’t understand bisexuality. I didn’t understand it in the beginning. It felt like I was undecided about my sexual orientation.
It took me a long time to realize that I wasn’t undecided. That I was attracted to women and men and that there was nothing wrong with that.
The coming out process was incredibly hard. I had a childhood friend (who I no longer speak to for other reasons) basically tell me she always knew I wasn’t straight. Her parents were often like second parents to me, and they were totally accepting & they loved me no matter what. My family, on the other hand was divided, but thankfully my mom, who has been by my side through so much, supported & loved me even though she didn’t really understand bisexuality.
Just in time for this week, I got hit with another misconception. Two people I was interested in dating refused to date me because I am bisexual. They said that bisexuals are incapable of being faithful.
That was really hurtful, and I’m so grateful to the bloggers who stood up for me and reminded me that I deserve better and that it speaks to their ignorance.
I didn’t come out online for a very long time, and just this past June, I came out on Twitter to my fellow bloggers. I was met with overwhelming support and love that day and, again I am so grateful for that. Grateful that I’ve surrounded myself with good people.
To celebrate this week, Dahlia Adler wrote a post, recommending YA books celebrating bisexuality. There are several on this list that I didn’t even know about, so I know what I’ll be adding to my TBR. Here’s the post: YA Books Celebrating Bisexuality
Thank you for reading this post!
Adventures in Reading 