Back when I was Christian, I hated what I was. I spent my youth “praying the gay away” and all that. As a result, I suffered from depression and anxiety pretty much straight out of the womb.

Then I came out, was ostracized by my Christian family, and everything I was afraid of happening happened.

But you know what? I ended up finding a new family who loves and supported who I am. I married a wonderful woman who loves me in all my trans masc non-binary, bisexual confusion.

I realized that what I hated wasn’t my being queer, what I hated was that my family would never love me unconditionally. Now I love who I am and I honestly feel happier than I ever did performing the cis straight dance.

It’s nice being a part of a community that accepts me for who I am.

I grew up in a very rural very conservative area with a very conservative father so accepting who I was was something I had to work towards.

And just being able to be me with a community is so nice, some members of the community don’t like me (I’m bi, so there’s biphobia to deal with from the community) but in general the community is very welcoming.

For a long time I didn’t feel like I was really part of the community. I’m bisexual and have had relationships with other women in the past but I’m married to a man now. I’ve found people in the community who say I’m not really a part of it so I’ve been really hesitant until recently to even try to participate.

It’s interesting being a recovering country gay because I’ve made a lot of lesbian and non binary friends but i still want to do the dating/bf experience :(

I’m not a very social person so for me the worst part is feeling left out of the community. I’m very happy to be queer. But I also live in a place where I don’t always feel comfortable being visible - those experiences make me hate my surroundings, not my identity.