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What I Learned About Coming Out

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Chatham chapter.

Coming out is a process, not just a one time thing and then everyone knows forever.

Just because you come out to one group of people does not mean that you are out to everyone. Some people I know agree that they may have come out to their friends, but they haven’t come out to their family or a certain family member. One person I know even told me she will never come out to her grandmother unless she has a female partner that she plans to marry because of how homophobic her grandmother is. On the other hand, she’s out as bisexual to her friends and her parents. 

Labels don’t always communicate a person’s sexuality entirely.

Labels such as straight, lesbian, or bisexual is a quick way to identify one’s sexuality to another party and identify with people of similar attractions, but that label doesn’t perfectly fit. My best friend has a similar experience going on where she identifies as pansexual, liking people regardless of sex or gender, but she feels mostly straight from the fact that she has had only dated one girl. This is why many people just identify as queer because it is a broader term meaning not being 100% anything.

Sexual identity can be defined as whatever the person in question feels it means.

There’s the constant questions of what are the definitions of bisexual, pansexual, and polysexual. One person can say bisexual is very similar to pansexual in liking both genders and polysexual is also close to the two. I would counter that idea by saying bisexual is liking both male and female, pansexual is liking personalities regardless of gender, and polysexual is liking or dating multiple people at once. The bottom line is don’t assume if a person identifies as bi that they don’t like non binary.

Sexuality and gender identity aren’t set in stone and aren’t always extreme.

The Trevor Project’s spectrum allows a person to see where the lie on the spectrum at any given time knowing that it could change as soon as tomorrow. A similar idea to this is the genderbread person.

You should never feel pressured to come out, especially if you feel unsafe or uncomfortable doing so.          

Iyanna is an English and Creative Writing major at Chatham University. You can follow Iyanna's Instagram @lively_bones where she pretty much posts selfies and crafts, or you can follow her Studyblr @studymydeer.
Indigo Baloch is the HC Chatham Campus Correspondent. She is a junior at Chatham University double majoring in Creative Writing and Journalism and double minoring Graphic Design and an Asian Studies Certificate. Indigo is a writer and Editorial Assistant at Maniac Magazine and occasionally does book reviews for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She is also the Public Relations Director for The Mr. Roboto Project (a music venue in Pittsburgh) and creates their monthly newsletter. During her freshman and sophomore year, Indigo was the Editor-in-Chief of Chatham's student driven newsprint: Communique. Currently, on campus, Indigo is the Communications Coordinator for Minor Bird (Chatham's literary magazine), the Public Relations Director for Chatham's chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, and a Staff Writer and Columnist for Communique. She has worked as a Fashion Editorial Intern for WHIRL Magazine, and has been a featured reader at Chatham's Undergraduate Reading Series and a featured writer in Minor Bird. She loves art, music, film, theater, writing, and traveling.