By

~

I've been reading through other milestone stories in this book, and I'm honestly really proud of everyone else for the progress they've made. It's not an easy thing to come out to close friends or family members - or even to yourself. In light of the discrimination society sheds on our community as a whole, it's become a big leap of faith to embrace who we ourselves are. It's become a huge moment in our lives when we realize that we are the opposite of what everyone else believes us to be - hence this collection of stories. It's both a happy and sad kind of knowledge to find ourselves: no one, in my opinion, should be told that they aren't supposed to be who they are. No one should have to hide their true nature to please the crowd.

I'm sad to say that I haven't always thought the same as I do now, though. I've grown up in a very homophobic/transphobic family, and I guess I didn't know any better but to believe as they do. It wasn't until my senior year of high school that I even heard of the LGBT+ community, and began to do my own research after that. Within a few months, I came to a conclusion: I'm asexual, and it probably would have been obvious all along if it hadn't been for my upbringing. It's not that I'm bashing my parents or anything - but I honestly felt as though I was being cheated out of something by not having the whole range of sexualities and genders other than cisgender and heterosexual explained to me.

It's been a rather long journey after that. I've dealt with about a year now of coming to terms with myself, becoming comfortable in my own skin and telling myself that I am not broken, no matter what others may think. It's a slow process, but I'm happy to say that I'm doing a lot better than I was when I first came out to myself. And even if I haven't come out to many other people yet, I know that that day will come someday, and then I'll be able to tell them with full confidence in myself who I am.

With time, I don't think I'll unconsciously separate myself from "everyone else" because of my sexuality, or have to tell myself that I'm "different". I won't have to pretend, or ask myself "what would an allosexual person say in this situation?" I'm not at the end of my journey, not by a long shot, but I am honestly proud of how far I've come so far. And even if I had a chance to be someone completely different, if I could become a cisgender girl who is just as heterosexual as her parents have always wanted her to be, I wouldn't take it. This is who I am, above all else, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.