Your feelings might change, and they might not.Ĭoming out for the first time can feel so final, but it's actually not the end (it's just the beginning!). As long as you're listening to yourself, you can't go wrong. And ever since that day, there have been a million more steps as I've acquired more language to describe myself and my identity. 12 Celebrities Who Have Come Out as BisexualĪnd you know what? The world didn't end and I didn't feel like a totally different person - I just felt like I had taken a small step towards who I truly am inside.And then I actually dated a girl, and I realized that it felt the same as dating a guy but better. I kissed girls and I liked it, but I still liked guys. But, tbh, the process was a lot quieter than that. I kept waiting to be hit by some bolt of lightening that would show me that I was undeniably, 100%, totally, purely gay. There's a huge leap from "I feel a little different" to "I'm a masculine-of-center genderqueer gay woman." I remember kissing girls in high school, and then in college, but having boyfriends along the way.
Everyone is welcome to the table, and you're bound to meet some pretty incredible humans once you take a seat. Your body can be any size and you can be gay. It includes people of every race and religion. What's truly beautiful about being in the LGBTQ community is that it is so expansive. If you're thinking that you might be gay, then know that you have a whole built-in support group of wonderful and diverse people who are just waiting to meet you.
Here are some things to keep in mind if you're thinking you might be gay: You're not alone. You can't ask a teacher or a parent or your best friend or Google or even Seventeen and get a "yes" or a "no." And while it would be so nice to shake a magic 8 ball and get some clarity here, it's actually crucial for you to come to the answer all on your own. Why? Because it's a question only you can answer. People who exhibit gender variance may be called gender variant."Am I gay?" It sounds like such a simple question, but finding the answer can be so much trickier than you might think.
Gender variance, or gender nonconformity, is the behavior by an individual that does not match masculine and feminine gender norms. Gender Queer is an umbrella term for gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine - identities that are thus outside of the gender binary. Pansexuality, or omnisexuality, is sexual attraction, romantic love, or emotional attraction toward people of any sex or gender identity. Intersex is a variation in sex characteristics, including chromosomes that do not allow an individual to be distinctly identified as male or female.Īsexuality (or non-sexuality) is the lack of sexual attraction to anyone.Īn Ally is a person who considers herself, himself as a friend to the LGBT community. The questioning(unsure) of one’s gender, sexual identity, sexual orientation, or all three. However, some LGBTQIA people still find the term offensive. But, beginning in the late-80s, LGBTIQ activists began to reclaim the word. Queer was originally used as an insult against the LGBT community. Queer is sometimes used as an umbrella term for the LGBT community, or people that are not heterosexual or cisgender (Cisgender people are people whose gender identity and expression match the sex they were assigned at birth.). Transgender people have a gender identity/expression that differs from the sex that they were assigned at birth. It means a man is sexually/romantically attracted to men.Ī bi is sexually/romantically attracted to both women and men. It means a woman is sexually/romantically attracted to women.Ī gay is a homosexual man. What does LGBT/LGBTQ+/LGBTQIA+/LGBTTTQQIAA+ mean? LetterĪ lesbian is a homosexual woman.