"QUILTBAG" and "Ally" are NOT Mutually Exclusive Identities!

(via George Takei's facebook page)

Happy June, everyone! June is (at least here in the U.S.) LGBT Pride Month, and as a result, I’ve noticed the image at the beginning of this post resurfacing a lot on various social media websites. As in previous years when it’s come to my attention, while I love the fact that there are so many allies out there who are being boldly vocal and posting this image as a reflection of themselves on the internet, there is something about the wording of the image that has always bothered me. Even before I fully self-identified as asexual, I always wanted to post this image in support of my LGBT friends, but felt that I couldn’t, because it would be a lie to claim that “I am not gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, intersex, or asexual.” I want to be an ally to my friends and family, but I don’t want to misrepresent my own identity in doing so. This begs the question, which has been on my mind a lot lately: Do you have to be straight to be an ally? And if so, why? Why should the fact that I am asexual mean that I can’t be an ally to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, etc. communities, and vice versa?

What's in a name?

The logo of the University of Sheffield LGBT Committee

As some of you may be aware by now, I am a part of my university’s LGBT committee. It’s a really great thing to be part of, and I enjoy being a representative of the LGBT students, but it’s not always easy or without controversy. In fact, it is often very definitely with controversy, as you’d maybe expect when we’re trying to represent such a diverse and passionate group of people. The most recent source of controversy is over, of all things, our name.

Ten things I wish I'd known before coming out

(x)

Recently someone came out to a friend of mine, and since then I’ve been considering coming out advice. There’s a lot that I wish I’d known before I came out to anyone, especially my parents, and today I’d like to share these ten pieces of, hopefully, useful advice.

Coming Out

(S)

This week I am lacking in interesting things to talk about so I’m going to revert to the standard topic of coming out. I know it’s a very much overdone topic, to the point where I’m sure some in this community want to burn the metaphorical closet from which they emerged and completely forget that it ever existed. The thing is, though, that this is impossible. Your coming out story will always be a part of who you are, and actually (the most frustrating thing) it never really comes to an end.

All the same but wonderfully different

(S)

This week I’ve been wondering why people have so much trouble just accepting their fellow human beings. I mean, we’re all fundamentally the same. We all breathe and eat and cry and get sick. We all complain about things and annoy our friends, whether we mean to or not. There are things we hate and things we love. We are all, at least in some ways, the same.

 Let me explain why I’ve been thinking about this so much.