How I Immersed Myself Into Queer Culture

When I was questioning my sexuality, I knew I was attracted to women but was unsure about men. When I was 13, I had a crush on my best friend and after that, I started having crushes on other girls.

I never thought too much about it and accepted it for what it was. I felt a lot of pressure from society to be attracted and attractive to men and went a little boy crazy when I got to college.

Dating men didn’t make me happy and I figured out it was because I just couldn’t, so I immersed myself in queer culture and blossomed into the lady-loving lesbian I am today. Unfortunately, even though my internal struggles were dealt with, my family was not so accepting.

It took six years for them to finally realize I am gay. I’m glad they finally love me for who I am.

Coming out is definitely still an issue with people. The community and allies are working so hard to promote education, awareness, and acceptance, but we still have a long way to go before homophobia is truly eradicated.

And sadly, a lot of people face both the fear and reality of being rejected, disowned, or physically and emotionally harmed.

Homophobia shows itself in many ways, and although the legalization of same sex marriage was a huge step forward, it attracted major backlash and gave bigots the chance to raise their voices and be heard. It isn’t better or worse, just louder.

Thankfully, although media representation is still lacking, LGBTQ+ characters and themes are making more of an appearance and it makes me relate to more and more shows, books, and movies. That connection is definitely going to positively impact a lot of people identifying as LGBTQ+, especially the younger ones.

I believe that as progress is made with gay rights, people will become more accepting. But, with the current government administration, ignorance is making a major reemergence and we need to continue fighting for a brighter future.