BBP STORIES: Facebook feedback

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BBP STORIES: Facebook feedback

Central High School

TRANSCRIPT

When I was in middle school in, like, seventh grade, I thought that I was bi. And so, you know, I was scared because I didn’t think anybody would, like, accept me or anything. And I got, um, a girlfriend.

And, anyways, um-, yeah, I got a girlfriend and she, like, whatever. And I, like, made a status about that, about how I didn’t care and whatever, that it was my life. Well, like, yeah, I was pretty young. I was like 12. But like I just thought that, like, that was me. And that’s what I wanted to be.

Well, I made the status about it on Facebook. And um-, God, people who like were family to me, they just were making rude comments all over the place, telling me I didn’t I know what I was, didn’t know what I wanted, how, like, bad that was. An, liked nasty. And, like, it was just rude, and, like, I cried a lot. And there were people there who were, like, my supporters who were like, “Oh, it’s OK. Blah, blah, blah. Good for you. I support you.”

And then, like, you just sit there, and you—the supporters don’t matter because you have all these people telling you who you are and what you’re supposed to be and how bad that is and that you’re nasty and disgusting and whatever. And I just said, “You know, whatever. Like, it’s my life. I’m going to live it.” But it just got harder because, like, you just see, like, posting one thing on a social network, like, how everybody can just jump on you—like, people who you don’t know, or people who you love and you know a lot, like family. And they all judge you for, like, who you are and say lots of rude things for no reason. Like, it’s, like, not OK.

And you know, yeah, I was probably too young to just make a decision like that. But, like, I was brave enough to tell people. And it kind of just got shot back in my face. But the whole reason I’m telling the story is that it doesn’t really matter who says anything to you. It doesn’t matter what they say. If you like someone or a different gender or any of that, that’s up to you. Like, it’s your life, you’re going to live it. If you want to be bi, or gay, or whatever you want to be, then be it. Because it’s your life, and that’s something that took me a while to learn. And everybody should know that. And everybody should be OK with that. And people who don’t support gay or bi or lesbians, just only have one way of thinking.

I know, like, a lot of bi and gay people, and you know, I’m still, like, kind of bi-curious. But, like, I’m more straight. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t love everyone and that—. I mean, I don’t even really know what I am. So, but just, just be yourself, no matter how long it takes, no matter who judges you. Because being you is the best thing you can do. Thank you.

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BBP STORIES: Here in my church, I have a lesbian pastor

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BBP STORIES: Here in my church, I have a lesbian pastor

West High School

In my church here in The Cities, I have a lesbian pastor. You always see these things on the news or on the Internet when you look up things like, “What are some things about gay marriage?” and stuff like that. And you always see people protesting. “Oh, it’s against the Bible. God hates gays. Um-, you know, you’re going against God’s word.” And I think it’s a nice slap to the face to them that my pastor’s a lesbian. And I’m pretty proud to have her as a pastor.

I always go around bragging, “Yeah. You should come to my church sometime. We’re pretty great. I mean, everybody’s welcome. Our pastor’s a lesbian. She’s pretty cool.”

I mean, it’s one thing to have a woman as a pastor these days. But it’s another thing for her to be a lesbian. I just think it’s really cool that we have that, you know, around here in The Cities.

And, I don’t know. At a young age, I was kind of exposed to gay people. Around fifth grade, my friend, who’s like two years older than me or something, she came and told me, “Hey, I, I think I’m a bisexual.” And I didn’t know how to react at first. I mean, how do you react to something like that? I was young, and I didn’t really know a lot about it. It was just sort of always, like, there, but never really, like, prominent in my life. Um—. Yeah. So, I was always afraid, like, “Oh, well, what if she tries hitting on me? What do I even do?” And stuff like that.

But, you know, over the years I kind of became more accustomed to it, like, “OK, it’s a thing. That’s pretty rad. I can accept that.” And through the years, I’ve been meeting more and more people and finding out more about myself. I think I’m slipping that way, too. I feel a lot more comfortable around chicks. And guys always, like, make me nervous. I’m never really comfortable around them. And girls, I—they’re  pretty. OK. So, I guess that’s really most of what I have to say.

Back to my pastor, when we were choosing pastors, like, cause one of ours was retiring. So we were choosing, like, who our new pastor would be. And there were a few people who were like, up to plate, and my dad, he was sort of against it. He’s like, “A woman as a pastor. I don’t think she’ll do it right. And even, worse, you know, she’s a lesbian.” I mean, you always hear lots of mean words said about people like that. Like um-, I’ve heard people refer to her even behind her back as “fish breath” and “carpet licker,” and I never really appreciated that. And I would always think to myself, “You’re, you are an ill-informed uneducated swine.” And, I mean, if that’s what they want to do, and that’s how they want to live, then you should accept that.

But she’s, she’s a pretty good pastor. I like her. She makes services nice and fun, and I like the openness and, like, just how everyone is truly welcome. And everyone can just be who they are.

I participated in the Day of Silence a few weeks ago, or something. And that was pretty rad, too. I liked that, a Day of Silence to honor those who had committed suicide because they were bullied because they were gay. And I guess, yeah, I’m cool with it. I really love how it’s so greatly accepted these days. And, it’s just really—it’s a cool thing.

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BBP STORIES: I did research on how I felt

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BBP STORIES: I did research on how I felt

West High School

I’m gender fluid.

And it was a really, really rough experience coming out as in just kind of being, you know. Something you weren’t born by. It was just really, really, you know, stressful to think that you weren’t normal for a while. I spent a long time just kind of wondering is this normal at, at all? And it was kind of stressful. But last year, I started crying in school because I broke down and I, I didn’t know if I was normal for a while. And someone asked me what was wrong. I didn’t tell anyone prior to how I was feeling, not even my best friends.

And I just poured my heart out into the conversation I had with him. And it, it was the most, it was the best think I could have asked for because he, he just listened to me. And it felt like someone … Even if someone didn’t understand what I was going through, they wanted to understand how I felt. It was really, really helpful for me. I did research on how I felt. I found out that there was something called gender fluid. And I was like: Wow. This is, this is how I feel. This–. I want to be a girl and I want to be a boy. But I don’t want to change that much. And um–. I, I went with that.

 

I told my friends.

They were supportive. Thank God. My parents. I, I couldn’t, I didn’t tell them for a while. I just sat at home and I really wanted to tell them. They knew I was, they knew, they thought I was a lesbian. But I told them later that I was pan sexual.

But I sat at home and I finally decided: OK. You know what? Today’s the day I’m going to tell my dad because he deserved to know first because he was kind of getting a son, in a way, as well as his daughter. And uh–. I took, we took, we went to dinner together and I just started asking him questions of what his views were on um-, gender. And I finally told them I feel like I’m both genders. And he, he kind of thought I was [laughing while talking] joking with him. Because that’s what I do with him. But after a while he, he really started asking questions. Like well, how did you feel? How did you come upon this? Why do you feel like this? And he’s, he’s, he had to do research on it. He didn’t understand it. But now he did the research cause he cared for me and he was very supportive and I’m really happy that he is because now he’s my biggest supporter in this.

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