Pride Month
Standing by the Closet Door
I was eight-years-old when I started to suspect I was "different". I would see all sorts of girls at school and they always took my breath away. They were all so pretty, so very pretty. But I was never jealous of them. There was no reason to be jealous. I hadn't yet learned to hate my body, so I hadn't yet started comparing myself to them. If anything, I was jealous of the boys. I was having "sinful" thoughts of the girls - "unnatural" thoughts. I knew that none of them had those ideas or feelings too. They had made that very, painfully clear with their comments about the "evil" gays and their chasing of the boys in our class. So, I decided to keep it to myself.
By Thorn Death2 years ago in Pride
I Found Peace in the Violence
I wish that I could sit down with my younger self and take all of her self-hatred and loathing and explain to her the truth that would bloom out of her life. It took me so long to figure out who I am and grow into who I am today. I still have so much growth to do. When I was younger church was a huge part of my life. My friends were there, my family was there. I grew up in one church for most of my life.
By brooke vecchi2 years ago in Pride
Sight
Sight A stale, foul odor rose from the little lagoon in the middle of my paradise. The wind picks up and wafts away the awful stench of algae and decay, only to be replaced by the sweet smell of German Chamomile, Plumeria, and Oak. The mixture inflamed my senses. I drank in this welcome aroma in tall glasses as I reached back to my faraway home. I drifted in the limbo of time to when I was a little girl sitting on sandy beaches.
By Alex Pierce2 years ago in Pride
The Nature of My Love is Not a Choice
I was raised in a very religious household in a very conservative town in Georgia. Whenever someone says that a person isn’t born gay—that it’s a choice—I have to wonder from whom they are getting their intel. It’s always a straight person who says this, and I think, How would you know? What makes you an expert on the complex and drastically unique experiences of all homosexuals everywhere? Please, show me your degree in Homosexual Studies.
By Navaris Darson2 years ago in Pride
Gender is a Performance
It's not too much of a stretch to make the claim that people under the transgender umbrella give their gender far more thought than the average cis person. Transgender people spend years and thousands of dollars on adjusting their presentation to match their gender, but gender is something that everybody has so what's up with the backlash towards transgender people lately then? A lot of the reasons cisgender people give for not supporting transgender rights is that they don't understand how it works, they can't fathom someone putting themselves through years of medical work just to feel comfortable in their body and I honestly get it. It can be pretty overwhelming when someone you love comes out as transgender because it may feel sudden or like you suddenly have to change everything you know about that person but I want to try and give another way to look at the concept of "gender" as a whole.
By skittly boo2 years ago in Pride