“I don’t need to drink wine to kiss girls; I’ve loved women my entire life.” What I love about Hayley Kiyoko is how she authentically brings queer stories into the mainstream and I want to talk about it.
Representation can be a lifeline. Though I live my life passing comfortably as "straight," there was a time when I felt anything but. The weight of feeling like an anomaly was so much, that frankly, I wanted to be nothing. For anyone confused right now, lol, it's complicated. I don't identify as straight; it's more of an in-between kind of deal, very grey area, neither here nor there. Fluid, adjustable & complex, NOT to be mistaken for untrustworthy, indecisive & greedy, which is a story I told myself for years.
I think there are probably more people out there that feel the same, yet struggle to realise this due to constant subconscious messaging that you can only ever be THIS or THAT; anything else is impossible – bad, even. Add to that external and internalised homophobia and you've got a recipe for lifelong confusion If you take the time to unlearn things & open your mind/heart, then I think you'll see that there are things that exist far from any kind of spectrum (re-apply this to anything).
It's weird that in 2018 I feel scared to talk about this, as if it were taboo. Queer love has unfortunately been repackaged as a kink in order to make straight people comfortable & now it's eating up my brain. I want to put my foot down; there is no controversy here, just a reality that some people live and cannot change. Queer people's lives matter enough to exist in every day spaces: on TV, in children's books, pop music & more. I dream of a day where people can say what they are without there being "scandal" or "gossip" after (we're kinda there right?). Embrace being different, but at the end of the day realise that we all love pretty much in the same way 🌈💕
