I feel like they would consider it ‘just a phase.’ I’m at a stage in my life where I’m fairly independent.

My personal life is something that my family becomes aware of on a need to know basis. I don’t know if I’ll ever come out to them. Maybe someday, but not now.

In high school, I was pretty repressed. I went to a Catholic middle school.

The message there was that being anything other than straight means that you’re going to burn in hell. Even though, at that point, I was starting to question that doctrine.

Moving into high school, subconsciously, I think I still carried it with me. I was pretty sexually repressed until around the start of junior year.

I helped a friend, who was out at the time, start the Gay-Straight Alliance, later the Queer-Straight Alliance, at my high school. By changing who I was hanging out with, I began to develop self-acceptance.

I realized it was okay to question these things. It was in senior year of high school that I started saying to people, ‘I’m figuring myself out, but I know that I’m not completely straight.’

I’ve always felt sort of weird about being a late bloomer. I do feel privileged in that I did eventually have the space to explore my sexuality. I know that’s not always the case for everyone.

We had a honeymoon stage where it seemed like LGBTQ people were having a lot more freedom to be self-expressive. It felt like there was this social progression for acceptance.

I think the Trump era has definitely reinforced the fact that this maybe not have been true. Although it’s certainly not the 50s and 60s, I think that there is still a considerable amount of struggle when it comes to being out. Especially depending on where you are.

There are pockets where people are very accepting. However, we still have a long way to go.

My parents expected me to be very traditional in all aspects of my life. They even originally didn’t want me to go to college. Instead, they wanted me to just look for a spouse right out of high school.

However, I am not very traditional and I have come to the realization that I probably never will be. Most of my friends are single, and in their late twenties.

They do not have typical office jobs and many of them are in the LGBTQ community. Actually, being a part of this friend group is the main reason why I had enough confidence to come out.

Once I graduated high school, I was pretty lost. I was hiding my sexuality from my family for years and even tried dating the opposite sex to please them.

However, once I started going online more frequently, I started to meet people who had similar struggles and stories. This is where I was really able to speak out and make connections in the LGBTQ community.

Eventually, I was able to come out as a lesbian to my family with my friends’ help and support. While I was not accepted right away, I was still so relieved that I was being open and honest with my loved ones.

Personally, I really hope that our community can keep staying strong and speaking out for what is right. In recent years, I have noticed many more LGBTQ characters and figures being publicized in pop culture. This is wonderful for younger audiences, specifically so that they can be introduced to our community at a young age.

I personally appreciate TV shows such as Glee and Riverdale for their ability to use LGBTQ characters. Also, seeing same sex marriages being legalized and promoted is really a great thing for our community. This really gives our community the validation it needs to keep make a difference in the world.

I grew up living with my older sisters who were very girly. They would always talk about boys and they were very into makeup.

For me, I struggled with my style because I knew I was different and that may ruin our relationship. I had crushes on boys and girls and did not know what to do about those feelings. Therefore, I hid those feelings for years.

I eventually started to learn more about the LGBTQ community and worked up the confidence to come out. I really worried that I would lose my connection with my sisters in this process though.

However, once I did come out, they immediately accepted me and showed me a tremendous amount of love. This really allowed me to free myself of all the anxiety and confliction that I had built up within me.

While I had such a great support system backing me, not every member of the LGBTQ community does. It is wonderful that the LGBTQ community has been more accepted in the past decade or two, but that doesn’t erase its history.

Historically, the LGBTQ community has received such an immense amount of hatred. We were not understood and were humiliated and tortured because of our sexuality.

Even today, we receive hate and are confined by the limits of society. Being bi, gay, trans, or anything other than straight should not put you in danger. It should not define you or make you feel like any less of a person.