Pride Not Prejudice

by Kitty Bertrand

TW: mention of sexual assault

My coming out story is less of a coming out story and more of a “I was outed at school” need to sit down, I have something important to tell you” kind of conversation with my two best friends, I didn’t mind that the rest of the school knew. The outing came asly talk about how in love I was with Santana and Brittany (the most iconic queer couple in Glee) during our lunch breaks. The breaking news in our school was that I was bisexual, and that was before I had even properly labelled. But “sure,” I thought, “I like men, I

As I continued growing up, carefully fabricating my Pinterest boards of beautiful women and staying up into the late hours reading of a man, my romantic and sexual attraction shifted from one day to the next. The way I looked at intimacy drastically changed, and although I was young, I felt it was impossible for me to experience sexual attraction towards anyone, as well as romantic attraction towards men. Naturally, my labels shifted and I started to describe myself as asexual and homorantic. a new school. Early into the semester, a boy guy? But I thought she was asexual and gay.” Sure, I had many experiences where people had doubted my sexuality, but never to my face. Not only was I fuelled with anxiety and panic at the thought of kissing someone, but hearing those drunk classmates (who most likely hadn’t realised they were being so loud) call me out for my non-queerness, made me internally regress. I felt embarrassed, but more importantly, I felt confused. that boy at the party, and a lot has changed. out my perfect labels, I came to the realisation that conforming to social standards is not necessary for me to validate my queer identity. I am growing and constantly experiencing new things that alter the way I view attraction, relationships and my queerness. in the nature of sexuality, but in understanding how to label ourselves.

I came to the understanding that the label pansexual a social construct anyway, and what did gender matter - if I fancied someone it was for who they were and how they made me feel, their gender had nothing to do with my feelings towards them.