Orlando, Orlando

In my 20s, I came out as bisexual. I didn't come out very far — and possibly not very accurately given that my mother decided based on my explanation that most of us are probably a bit that way inclined, or maybe she's right — but it was a milestone in a long journey of worry and confusion and fear. It was also a milestone that opened up some space for joy and community and understanding. And dancing. Always, there was space for dancing.

I've been in a relationship with a man since then, so it all feels a bit academic or something now, something I don't really have the lived experience to claim. It's easier in this world to play the straight card, to fit in and keep quiet. Quiet when activist, feminist friends edge towards transphobia, quiet when conservative relatives, colleagues, random strangers make bad jokes, quiet when my interests are assumed to be political and not also personal.

Well, it doesn't feel academic this week. It feels like I've been quiet too often and for too long. I look at this beautiful next generation we're raising and I cry for the ones for whom we needed to change the world and whom we have failed. I don't want them to have to seek out safe spaces; I want the whole world to be safe for them, to celebrate who they are and who they love.  I'd thought we were getting there. But this week, this terrible, gut-wrenching week, it feels like nothing has changed at all.