Finding Myself Led to Finding a Community (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 year ago by BumpingFuglies@lemmy.zip to c/lgbtq_plus@beehaw.org

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Just something I've been thinking about lately:

Having been a straight-passing (I'm bi) white male in the U.S., I was part of the country's "default" community. Because of that (and because I've never really identified with classically masculine interests), I never really felt like I had any real community to call my own. I was a bit of a hermit, only interacting with others when I had to.

But now that I've found myself as nonbinary and started presenting as such, for the first time in my life, I feel like I belong. I've never felt such a deep, intrinsic connection to strangers as when I meet another trans person. I've never felt such love and acceptance as when I first came out to my trans friends.

So, thank you all for being who you are, and thank you for accepting me for who I am. I love each and every one of you. 💖

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[-] kev_handle@beehaw.org 9 points 1 year ago

I'm very happy for you. Stories like yours helped motivate me to do similar. I've semi-recently come out to a few friends of mine that I'm bi / pan, but still only have one foot outside the closet. I did it for no particular reason other than to see what it felt like to be open about it for once. I'm glad I did. It felt like taking a gasp of fresh air after holding my breath for far too long. While it wasn't a life changing moment for me like it has been for others, self-acceptance has dramatically eased my emotional stress, and I hope we can encourage more to do the same.