I am so glad there is a community of people LIKE ME. Growing up, I was sure I was the only one who felt the way I did.

I come from a small, conservative town in a rural state, the child of conservative Christian parents; my father is a minister in a small close-knit church and my mother was a teacher in the local school district. When you’re a kid you are told that if you have a secret, something you just can’t tell your parents or family, you should go to your clergy or a teacher but no one ever says what you can do if your parents ARE your clergy and teacher! I was stuck. Boy, was I stuck! To this day I cannot tell my parents (I’m in my 30’s, btw) that I am bisexual.

When I was a kid I got picked on, teased, and harassed. Not just because of the perception that my sexuality was different, but also because I had medical and physical challenges which made me different. I was depressed, suicidal and lonely. I didn’t know any other kids who were gay. I didn’t even know what bisexual was, either, because it just wasn’t talked about. It wasn’t until I was in college that I even heard that word. Kids who were perceived as being gay or lesbian were treated cruelly in school, even by some of the teachers.

When I was younger, just beginning to understand that I was attracted differently, before I came to understand that it’s ok, I used to pray that God would take it away: “God, please don’t let me be gay, I just can’t be gay, I’m a Christian…” or words to that effect. I guess God had other ideas, though, because sometimes I think that a voice said to me “OK, you won’t be gay, but how about we meet halfway?” Maybe that’s not PC of me, but the God I believe in has a sense of humor.

Once I got to college and started meeting people of all different backgrounds, races, sexualities, and so forth I began to understand that God (or whatever you believe in) made me and loves me just the way I am. Once I (finally, in my mid-twenties) came out to a few close friends I became more comfortable in my own skin than I had ever been. Everything I have experienced in my life, good and bad, has brought me to this point and to this place. I am meant to be who and what I am, take it or leave it.

If you’ve read this whole story and are still here, thanks.