It’s Panda, Miss Dementia If You’re Nasty

Today, October 11th, is National Coming Out Day. According to Wikipedia, it is an internationally observed civil awareness day for coming out and discussion about gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual and transgender (LGBT) issues. It is observed by members of the LGBT communities and their supporters (often referred to as “allies”) on October 11 every year, or October 12 in the United Kingdom.

About a week ago, before I even knew there was such a thing, I came out as bisexual to all of Facebook – my family, my open-minded friends, and my strictly religious friends. Since I learned of NCOD, I have posted HRC’s status updates also outing myself as bisexual and urging people to stop the hate. I only got positive responses, but those responses were from open-minded friends who already knew I was bisexual. I haven’t gotten any response about it from the family members (everyone except my mom, who I told a few months back) or other friends who didn’t already know I was bisexual.

Today, I had my mom say something about my Facebook coming out: “I saw that you said you’re bisexual on Facebook. I don’t really understand that, because you’re in a monogamous relationship with a man now.”

Here’s what my response to her was, with extra commentary that I didn’t think of at the time: Yes, I am in a monogamous relationship with a man now and yes, it would be much easier for me to identify as straight, but that’s not who I am. Even though I’m in love with a man, that doesn’t make me stop being attracted to women, and that doesn’t make me not bisexual. I’m in a straight relationship, but I, myself, AM NOT STRAIGHT. I am bisexual, I am proud of myself, and it was important for me to come out as a way of being true to myself and supporting other LGBT people who have been targets of hate and discrimination.

I was definitely nervous about coming out to everyone because I wasn’t sure what the response would be, but in the end I decided to do it because 1) I am not ashamed of who I am, 2) it was the right thing to do in order to spread awareness about LGBT equality, and 3) if people change their opinions of me just because they now know I’m bisexual, then I don’t want them in my life anyways.

I don’t know if my mom really “got” what I was saying, but hopefully it’ll sink in and she’ll realize how important this step was to me and that I have no regrets for doing so.

I am Christian. I am bisexual. I am proud. And I am coming out for LGBT equality.

EDIT: I just got a response on Facebook from my brother – “Did I miss an announcement or some kind of family meeting?” My response: “Does there need to be a family meeting about something like this? I am what I am, and that’s all that I am. (Thanks for those words of wisdom, Popeye! lol)” My brother is a very conservative guy, so we’ll see how this pans out. I’ll keep you posted.