For most of my life, I just assumed that I was straight. I’ve always liked boys and dated boys. I’ve always found other genders to be very attractive, but it took me a while to realise that I was actually attracted to them!

My junior year of high school, my best friend introduced me to the movie/musical RENT. After seeing the movie, I began to have dreams that I was the bisexual character, dancing with men and women like in the movie. It all sounds a bit silly, but when I woke up and thought about the dreams, they made sense to me.

As I was a bit in denial and confused, I took a ton of online sexuality quizzes. I quickly realised that all my “girl crushes” of the past were just me liking girls and that I was bisexual.

“I was still scared of how they and the rest of the world would react”

I was excited, confused and scared of my realisation. My close family and friends had never been homophobic at all, but I was still scared of how they and the rest of the world would react. After a few months, I told my sister on a camping trip. She had a very chill and supportive reaction, which I appreciated. She has always been one of my closest friends, and I am so glad that I felt comfortable enough to tell her so quickly.

“no one really expected me to be anything other than straight”

Over the summer, I randomly came out on Snapchat one day. I didn’t have a ton of followers and most people didn’t react. A few of my friends reached out to me with supportive messages, though they were all pretty surprised. That’s the thing about my story, no one really expected me to be anything other than straight.

Now, I think my haircut and “pride” keychain makes people assume otherwise. My biggest moment in the process was coming out on my Instagram. I had a friend take a photo of me walking on a rainbow crosswalk in Seattle. It was just on my personal account, but I got a lot of comments from friends and people from my high school. I was so happy to see all the support and that really made me feel more comfortable and certain of who I am.

The only negativity I experienced during this process was friends getting mad at me for not telling them sooner, and a few people outing me to others. Both were really annoying and uncool!! This was (and still is) my business and not anyone else’s to share.

I wish I could say it’s been as easy since. While I haven’t faced extreme oppression like others, I’ve definitely faced biphobia and homophobia to a degree. Honestly, what bothers me the most is hate from inside my community. There’re so many dumb myths about bisexual people out there, and it’s crazy that some people believe them!!

“I’m just going to keep being myself, standing up for my community and validating others’ sexualities”

I can’t believe that some gays refuse to date bi women because they think they’ll cheat. Or that bisexuals are seen as greedy!? The one that I get the most is that I need to go after more women/date more women to be a legitimate bi person. I’m just going to keep being myself, standing up for my community and validating others’ sexualities until people get these ridiculous ideas out of their heads.