This Is Us
Is My Bisexuality Valid?
Even though I’m straight-passing, I’ve finally decided I’m allowed to take up space
I’ve always kept my mouth shut during Pride Month. So when this past June came around, I spent 30 days in a limbo (at least more of a limbo than usual), going back and forth, swirling around, deciding to just post nothing again and not acknowledge the truth lodged in my throat.
My sexuality is both nobody’s business, and yet something I want to embrace as loudly as I can. I feel like I’m wearing stilts; I’m shiny and impressive, but I’m also teetering, always thisclose to tipping over and falling over myself. My whole “thing” is writing and posting whatever I want, often without filter, and yet this topic has ping-ponged in my brain for years on end. When I try to speak and open my mouth, only a croak comes out.
The main component of my hesitation is that I am, overall, straight-passing. I have been involved in a relationship with a man for over a decade. I’ve never officially called a woman my “girlfriend.” So I feel kind of weird and like I’m taking up space that isn’t mine if I go to Pride, if I fly the flag, if I label my sexuality. And so I avoid those things. But I’ve read the articles and done the work. If I were one of my friends, I’d tell them their sexuality is…
