SARAH
MINNESOTA | SERIES # 4
Hi, my name is Sarah, I’m 25 years old, and I am from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I’m a student, a musician, and identify as a genderqueer bisexual.
I came out to my parents when I was in high school, during a fight. The pressure was building until I finally blurted out, "I'm bisexual!” (at this point, I didn’t identify as gender queer). My parents responded. "What? Do you mean you're gay?!” to which I told them no. I didn't anticipate that reaction; I had to fully explain what that meant, not just to them, but to my peers as well.
No, I'm not secretly straight, No, I’m not going to magically wake up one day and be straight. I’m not dipping my toe in the deep end of the pool to “see what it’s like.” I'm experimenting with females (or people who identify more on the feminine end of the spectrum), and it is not a phase for me. This is who I am.
Because I came out 6-8 years ago, I feel like I’m often countering the narratives that are projected on bisexual people. I'm not wishy-washy with sexual orientation, going from straight to gay. My bisexuality has been a very stable thing for me. Also, I'm not any more likely to cheat than anyone else, simply because I’m capable of attraction with other genders. These stereotypes seem very basic and elementary. Sexual orientation is who you're physically attracted to, whether aesthetically, romantically, or whatever the case is.
Being a part of the LGBTQ community in Minnesota is interesting to me, because it feels like we live in a bubble. I've only ever lived in Minneapolis, so I don't necessarily know what it's like in other places throughout the state. The stories I’ve heard from others definitely reinforced my belief that Minneapolis (and St. Paul) is home to many pro-LGBTQ viewpoints. Acceptance feels more prevalent here than in other parts of Minnesota. Still, just because there is widespread acceptance, doesn’t mean that individual cultures in the community are accepting. The intersection between sexuality and religion/race/culture often changes people’s experiences; different groups have their own beliefs, so acceptance varies. I'm glad to live in Minneapolis Minnesota. I appreciate living in a bubble where the general attitude towards queer people is open-minded. I hope that it continues to get better.
I identify as multi-ethnic. I represent multiple heritages, and see the differences in how some parts of my heritage have beliefs that don’t align with other parts of my identity. I want to be authentically proud of all the groups that make up by identity, but it’s ethically much harder when one culture doesn’t fully embrace all sides of me. I used to be taught that the LGBTQ community was created to “remove fathers from the home, and to destabilize culture more than any economic policy ever could.” I just want to tell people that this is not the case. Sexual orientation is just a part of who we are. It wasn’t created as a political act of destruction.
People are talking about these things at much younger ages now. I'm a 90's-borderline-2000's kid, and definitely notice a change. We didn’t have these conversations growing up, and today, people are talking about these topics in middle school. This makes me hopeful. I’m excited for a future where kids can openly question their sexual orientation and gender identity, without it being perceived as deviant, nasty behavior. We're building who we are.
