“Gay people are worse than paedophiles” - a woman I went to church with when I was 7/8
“You know that’s the gay pride flag you’re drawing, right?” - a classmate seeing me draw a rainbow at age 11 before I knew what gay pride even was
“Ugh that’s gay” - most people around me who went to my schools/college from ages 7-present(17)
“I agree with civil partnerships but I don’t agree with gay marriage because marriage is between a man and a woman to produce children” my religious studies teacher when I was 12
“I don’t have a problem with gay people but why do they need to shove it in my face” - my mum when I was 12
“I don’t mind gay people, it’s bisexuals I have a problem with, just pick, be gay or straight, it’s not a pick and mix” - my mum when I was 12
“Ew you’re a lesbian” - many people around me, joking, even before I came out
“Well I don’t like gay people because of my religion and I think they’re going to hell” - a classmate in my religious studies class when I was 15
“All of these celebrities are just coming out as bisexual for attention” - my mum when I was 15/16
People often wonder why it’s difficult for gay/lesbian/bi kids to come out, this is why, it’s not even outright direct homophobic attacks, it’s offhand comments made by straight people because they think you’re one of them meanwhile feeling trapped inside yourself. When you start questioning your sexuality, you start to remember all of those comments made and it terrifies you because it makes you question who you are and what you’ll become if you ever do come out and it’s horrible
When you’re told these things by parents/family/teachers/ friends you start to believe these things because why would they lie to you? I believed almost all of those things at one point because that’s all I’d been told and it made it 10x harder for me to come to terms with who I was, it meant not even looking at girls for too long in case they thought I wanted them and scoulding myself and getting so angry at myself every time I had any remotely romantic/sexual feelings about a girl, saying things like this make it so much harder for people to accept themselves
I’ve worked so hard for a long time to accept who I am, however I’d be lying if I said I was completely comfortable with what other people think of me, even after I’ve come out, it still terrifies me to talk about sexuality with my family and friends because I’m still scared that on some level they’re not okay with it and I don’t know when this feeling will stop or if it ever will
So yeah, I am loud and over the top about my sexuality but that’s because 1) I’m so proud of how far I’ve come and the the journey I’ve taken to come to where I am today, accepting who I am 2) I’m still trying to convince myself that I am Okay with being out and proud and not caring about what others think 3) if other people hear me being out and proud maybe it will make it easier for them when they think about accepting who they are/coming out because they’ll think about the positives
What I’m trying to say here is, watch what you say especially around younger people who are probably starting to question who they are because what you say can have damaging effects on them and trust me when they start to think about coming out, they will think about every single one of those comments made
titsay
ellievsbear
tangentwithtanner
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