The Earth Charter states that we should eliminate discrimination of all forms, including that of sexual orientation. Being a thoroughly bisexual woman, I have managed to skirt the worst of the discrimination from organizations by having a loving, long-term relationship with my fiancé, who happens to be male. However, I’ve found that my peers can be cruel about my orientation. Many, many girls have ceased to be my friend because they think I’m going to suddenly develop crushes on them. And god forbid if I do develop a crush on a girl: I’m never going to tell her.
Because of the discrimination in this world, I can never tell a woman I admire her. I can’t tell men I find women attractive because I become an object to them: a gateway to ménage a trois. I am a loving and caring person, who likes to hug and touch and laugh, but if people know that I “swing both ways” they feel threatened. Like somehow everything I do is suddenly sexual, with hidden intention. No! I believe in openness and honesty. I believe in full-disclosure. So why do I have to hide this part of myself, to keep from scaring people off?
Just because I just so happen to find both men and women attractive does not make me inhuman. It does not make my every day behavior different from others’. And if I were a lesbian, I would say exactly the same thing. The same goes for race, religion, ethnicity—on and on and on, we are all human. We are all genetically 99% the same. Yet somehow these differences become marked, crushing our humanity and turning individuality—genetic, uncontrollable individuality!—into a crime. We are a world full of people: beautiful, different individuals with their own stories to share. We need to embrace them, not shun them.
So in my own words? End the discrimination. Embrace your neighbor, love a stranger. Don’t let fear ruin your life, or another’s life. We are all just beautiful humans, fighting to be ourselves. And if you help someone else be themselves, the same will come for you. This I believe.
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