Coming out...

Hello readers!

Today I have spent some time, now that I finally got my son to take a nap, arguing with people on a local news Facebook page. Of course, why I do that to myself is beyond me. All it does is raise my blood pressure. Good thing I'm on meds for that, lol. But, it led me to doing some thinking which led to this blog post.

The posting I was arguing on was about the military's announcement that they would extend benefits to same sex spouses of service members. All of you know how I feel about gay rights. I've blogged about it before, and I think I've made it pretty clear what I believe.

However, I think to truly make clear my thinking on this subject, there is something that I need to disclose about myself.

I am bisexual.

It's something I've only recently admitted to myself. I've always felt attraction toward women. I never understood it. I had been with a woman sexually once but wasn't sure at the time what was motivating me and I never told anyone in my life about it. (other than my husband) But it all boils down to the fact that I feel sexually attracted to men AND women. Not one more than the other. I like them both.

But it took a conversation with my husband about things that turn me on to make me say it out loud. That I am bisexual. Guess what? My husband is a million percent cool with it. He loves me for who I am and that hasn't changed. I am the woman that he married. The only difference now is that I really KNOW who I am.

It doesn't make any difference in my marriage. I am 100%, head over heels in love with my husband. He's an amazing man and I am lucky and blessed to have him. Our life and marriage is wonderful and I wouldn't change it, or him, for the world. He doesn't, as some men might, feel threatened by the fact that I'm bisexual. In fact, he thinks it's pretty awesome. :)

So, you may ask, what does it matter? Why 'come out' when it doesn't seem to be necessary. When, because I'm in a heterosexual marriage, I don't have to struggle as do others in the LGBT community, for equal rights?

It is exactly because of that fight for equality that I need to come out. That I proclaim who I am loudly and proudly while I stand alongside others in the LGBT community to fight for equality. I already have equal rights because of my marriage, but what if I had met a woman instead of Kevin? What if she'd been from England? I'd still be living apart from my love by thousands of miles because the US doesn't allow same-sex partners to immigrate. So, while those restrictions don't affect me, they could have.

I also just don't believe that people should have to be secretive about who they are. Everyone deserves the right to be who God made them to be, and I've always been told that God doesn't make mistakes. So, I know that He made me to be who I am.

I've reached a point in my life where I don't feel like I should have to do anything to conform to what other people think is right. My conscience guides my actions. My love for Christ and his commandment to love one another guides my actions. But if I want to dye my hair purple (which I plan to do), get a few more tattoos, or fight for marriage equality because it's the right thing to do, then I'm going to do it regardless of what anyone else thinks.

Do I think that my coming out will lose me some friends? Possibly it will. If it does then I'll be sad for those people. But I will not mourn their loss in my life if they cannot accept me for the person that I am.

So, that's it. That is me in a nutshell. It is very freeing to just say it out loud and just be who I am.

Thanks for reading,

Dawn