.

~

When I was younger, I had a pretty open mind, like my parents, about things relating to the LGBT community. My cousin is a lesbian, and we lived right next door to a lesbian couple who we were good friends with. As I got older, I began questioning who I am. I went through some gender issues, I was born a girl, and I guess I am a girl, but I really don't care what you call me, my pronouns don't make a difference. The main thing was sexuality, I only knew you could be gay or straight. I was always drawn to LGBT things, and the first time I opened up this page it was like entering a whole new world, that I absolutely loved. I had had crushes on both girls and boys before, and when I learned of the term Bisexual, I identified as that. Now I know that I am pansexual, but I don't care if you call me bisexual, pan means "all."

Now to my milestone. I live in a very religious town, so all of my friends are pretty homophobic, except three. When I came out to my aunt, she was very accepting, and even helped me come out to my mom. I finally mustered up the courage to write an LGBT story on Wattpad, where two of my homophobic friends could see it. I considered that to be a huge milestone for me. It was about two girls who fall in love, and it was only 1365 words long. 1365 words that almost ruined a friendship. My friend, we'll call her H, read it. H thought it was about her, and sent me a pretty nasty message, saying she was going to report me for explicit content... They kiss. That's it. We had a pretty big fight about it, and she tried to put my other friends against me, even though it was none of their business. H deleted her account, and convinced my other friend, P, to leave as well.

Still, I kept it up. I started talking to more LGBT people, and came out to a few more people. H has moved on, and now treats me like a human being again. Discovering who I am has strengthened me, and I now know how to deal with homophobes. Don't ever be afraid to be yourself, because the right people will stay with you. If anyone refuses to accept you for who you are, then they aren't worth your time.

Thanks for listening~