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Happy Pride Month!
Welcome back to my playground, Lexual folx!
Are you feeling proud of who you are? You should be!
No matter your sexual orientation and gender and how you choose to express and explore them, you should feel comfortable to embrace who you are!
Western society (and mostly the whole world, let's be honest) is antiquated when it comes to giving others the space, respect, and laws for folx in the LGBTQIA+ community to live our lives in a way that we should be free to do!
Personally, I identify as a pansexual, kinky, cis-gender female in an ethically non-monogamous relationship.
And no, I'm NOT attracted to pans!
There is so much to learn about the incredible folx in the LGBTQIA+ community. I learn more and more every day. An incredible resource for me has been Queer Sex Ed, a podcast and website devoted to educating people about inclusive and comprehensive sexual education. I highly recommend it.
If you are straight (meaning you identify as heterosexual), then it's ever so important for you to be an ally. To do that, it's important to respect the fact that Pride is a time when individuals within the LGBTQ+ community are coming together to celebrate their sexuality and their gender. So if you're straight, don't take the spotlight away from those who are expressing themselves. This is about all of us lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, questioning, queer, intersex, and asexual folx (to name a few!) who are all too often discriminated against for the way we feel about ourselves, our bodies, our minds, and our sexuality.
I acknowledge that as a cis woman who is pansexual, I have it a lot easier than some of the other folx in our community, because it's WAY more socially acceptable to be a cis female who has an open sexuality than it is for others — which is TOTALLY unfair. So I try to use my privilege for good, to help educate about gender and sexuality and identity, to fight for everyone to have equal human rights, so we can all live our lives however we so choose.
No one should have the right to control what we can and can't say and do, who we can love, and how we feel in our own bodies.
No matter your gender and sexuality, or how you choose (or not) to express them:
- Be respectful, ALWAYS.
- Don't yuck someone else's yum! Just because someone might be into something you're not, does not give you the right to judge them! Live and let live.
- Never assume someone's gender. If you don't know, then you can respectfully ask them, "what are your preferred pronouns?"
- USE an individual's proper pronouns!!!!!
- Support the LGBTQIA community by buying from queer shops, employing queer-identified people, and speaking up if you hear people making insensitive comments about someone's gender and/or sexuality.
- Educate yourself. There is a lot to know about gender identity and sexual identity. Don't assume you know everything!
Happy Pride Month, Lexual folx!
XXX
Lexi
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