I’ve known for a couple years now that I am bisexual and have told a handful of my friends (mostly guys). I feel like most of the people in my community are super against any kind of homosexuality and it makes me feel trapped and like I’m hiding this huge thing. The guy friends I’ve told don’t care (they think it’s hot? so I’ve heard?) but I don’t want to tell any of my girl friends because I don’t want them to be uncomfortable around me. I do have one friend that lives literally on the other side of the country that is gay and understands me and wants the best for me. She found out yesterday why exactly I can’t just come out to my family.

I figured I would share some really disappointing moments I’ve come across in the past couple years.

1. My group of friends has a friend that lives across the state that is bisexual. Everybody loved her, including all the parents, and she was welcome to stay at some of the girls’ houses... until she got a girlfriend. Once they found that out, the girls’ parents wouldn’t let her stay over anymore.

2. I’m watching TV with my aunt, and a commercial comes on for some hotel or something like that. At the end, it shows two girls getting married. Awesome! Right? They’re FINALLY showing it! I was loving it, but she had different thoughts: “Oh my god! That’s disgusting! Why would they show that?!” THEN... the girls... KISSED!? My heart was jumping! I couldn’t believe they’d finally showed that on public television. Her response was, “OH MY GOD WHAT THEY CANT SHOW THAT” I said, “why can’t they show that?” she said “because it’s WRONG! it’s DISGUSTING! I can’t look!”

3 (this was just yesterday). I’m at my family Fourth of July cookout, and what better way to celebrate America than watching Talladega Nights? If you’ve seen the movie, you remember at the end when Ricky Bobby starts making out with the French driver. I was actually recording it when it happened because I was going to send it to my friend and you can hear in the background, my EIGHT YEAR OLD nephew, going, “WHAT?! NOOOO! that’s DISGUSTING! BOYS kissing BOYS?!” and my own mother going “I agree buddy, that’s not right...” he was hiding his face and everything. I can’t believe how an eight year old would think so strongly like that without having some sort of direction (like maybe his parents taught him that was ‘gross’?

TL;DR

being anything but straight in the south is hard and here’s some reasons why.