The LGBTQ+ Alliance - Straight People Always Welcome

Part of the LGBTQ+ community, here! I’m an asexual biromantic trans guy. Nobody is “sexy”, but I can develop feelings and form romantic relationships with all genders. I could technically also call myself panromantic, but I have preferences and bi is a more comfortable label for me personally. As it is, I only tell people the bi part unless another aspect of my identity is immediately relevant and I have to speak out about it. I don’t like having to have to explain asexuality to strangers (I’m all for educating people, but it’s exhausting when people demand it) and I don’t want people to suddenly start treating me differently than they would any other man. Not when I just hit a point where strangers see me as male more often than not.

Although I was raised Lutheran Christian, I’m not religious now. As far as I remember, the church I went to was accepting? They didn’t say anything negative about LGBTQ+ people, and the teacher for my Confirmation classes, in which everyone was a girl or closeted trans guy, once told us that “God should be first in all of your relationships, even with your boyfriend or girlfriend”, so that was inclusive. I like to think it was accepting by default. I have friends of various religions, and I try to educate myself on other peoples’ beliefs, but I don’t hold to any of them.

My advice to people is to be careful who you come out to. You shouldn’t feel pressured to do so, and if you don’t want to come out to everyone at once, make sure the person you’re talking to is not only supportive, but also able to keep a secret. Coming out is an ongoing process with a lot at stake, and you want to make sure the people you start with are people you can trust. I’ve been less careful than I’m suggesting, since I can’t resist the urge to out myself with puns.

That being said, coming out in high school was a bad experience and I’ve lost all of my friends from that time, went back in the closet, and got them back after playing it off as a joke, only to cut off contact with them once I got a better support network. When I left the small town where I grew up and went to university in an actual city, most of my new friends were trans anyway. I met most of them at a trans support group at the local Pride Center before the center itself got taken over by TERFs and in the local goth and folk punk scenes, which kind of explains it if you’ve ever been involved in counter culture in a major city. That made existing and being out a lot easier.

I didn’t come out to my family until after I moved out. I had no clue how they would react, since they never talked about LGBTQ+ issues and I was scared to ask. I technically “came out” by dating a woman and transitioning using my parents’ health insurance (but my own money for the copays, of course). Although it turned out well for me (my father doesn’t care either way and my mother’s apparently an ally), I don’t recommend that because in hindsight, lots of things could have gone wrong.

A message to all of you: There’s no rush to figure out your identity! Sexuality and gender can be complicated, and questioning things is especially normal when you’re a teenager, which a lot of people on the forums are. I didn’t have myself figured out for a long time, and it took me even longer to accept myself. These things take a while, and that’s alright.

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I’m not a spokesperson for the LGBTQ+ community, but I just want to say thank you so much, LGBTQ+ members and allies alike, for all your kind words so far!

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Bump!

I am straight but I have a few friends who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Unfortunately there are a lot of homophobic and intolerant people where I live and I know they are getting a lot of hate and judgement. One of my friends comes from a strictly Catholic, conservative family, he is 32 and he still didn’t have the courage to tell his parents that he was gay. I would like to tell him that they will understand, but to be honest I’m not sure about this at all. (I am Catholic too, though I don’t really practice my religion because it has some points I disagree with or would prefer to interpret on my own way.)

I just wanted to say that this is one of the reasons why I like to be part of this community. I love reading threads like this and it’s great to see that you can talk about this openly. On the other hand I usually try to restrain myself from commenting on non Episode-related, kind of sensitive topics because I’m always afraid I would say something stupid that could be misunderstood. Therefore I won’t try to give any advice, I just wanted to add some support from “the other side.”

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Bisexual and happily Christian

Growing up I was always confused about who I liked because I just thought it was just straight or gay. So growing up with a homophobic dad I repressed those feelings until I dated a guy in high school (I was 16) who was bisexual and opened me up to bisexuality and all the other sexualities thus I came to my full identity and acceptance when I was about 18.

What sucks is that people who I have told, some of them invalidate who I am simply because I have only with guys so far. But otherwise my other friends were cool with it and still saw me for me and count myself lucky. Haven’t come out to my family but pretty sure my Aunty and Mum have their suspicions :joy:

I feel like if people aren’t sure or certain who/what they are it is okay to take their time to discover that. Also it’s okay not to put a label on yourself and just be happy with you.

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Bump!

  • Are you part of the LGBTQ+ Community? If so, how do you identify?: I’m bisexual :upside_down_face:
  • Are you religious? If so, what religion?: I’m not religious
  • If you’ve ever had to come out to friends and/or family, do you have any advice?: I almost lost some friends during my coming out process but if they’re real friends they’ll stick around I promise :blush: and hey if they don’t, you can always make new ones! :wink:
  • Do you have any nice messages you can give to our friends out there?: keep being awesome :smile: and just be yourself honestly. That’s all I really have to say. Don’t let anyone talk down on you!

Oof I didnt really say anything but um yea

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Are you part of the LGBTQ+ Community? If so, how do you identify?
I’m bisexual (attracted to men and women) and genderfluid (which means that my gender identity fluctuates and I use they/them pronouns)
Are you religious? If so, what religion?
I’m Christian, Lutheran to be specific, but I’m not super religious.
If you’ve ever had to come out to friends and/or family, do you have any advice?
I’ve told my parents that I’m bi, but they refuse to acknowledge it.
Do you have any nice messages you can give to our friends out there?
Be yourself, unapologetically. Don’t hide who you are, it won’t end well.

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Bump

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Are you part of the LGBTQ+ Community? If so, how do you identify?
Yes! I’m bisexual.
Are you religious? If so, what religion?
No, i’m not religious.
If you’ve ever had to come out to friends and/or family, do you have any advice?
I used to struggle a lot with my sexuality when i was younger, eventhough my friends and family’s always been very accepting. When I eventually did come out, it was kinda awkward but nobody really cared. My advice is that life’s short, so don’t waste it pretending to be someone you’re not.
Do you have any nice messages you can give to our friends out there?
You’re perfect just the way you are. Be yourself and be proud!

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Thanks for this! I was about to bump the post but you did 5000x better than that :slight_smile:

I’m glad you feel a lot better about your sexuality now!

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Bumping this!

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