Hey, so I probably have a pretty common story. My name's Annabelle and I live in the USA. I've grown up in a really accepting, liberal, democratic family and city, and I can remember being around lesbians for my entire life. The family that lives a few houses down from us (we live on a lake) is a lesbian couple, and I remember when Washington passed the same sex marriage act that I was shocked that they weren't married. Basically, I've had it pretty easy in the realm of queer acceptance

I first figured out that I wasn't straight when I was in sixth grade and I joined my school's QSA. I never really had thought of it before until then, and I was super confused. At the beginning of 7th grade, I found myself with tons of queer friends. Gay, lesbian, bi, nonbinary, they were all around me. I was still super confused back then, and they really helped me through. So did my 3 straight friends, but not to the same extent.

Towards the end of last year, I thought that I might be bi, but I wanted to ponder it a bit more. Gay didn't feel right to me, and neither did straight. I did some research and found pan sexual, but that didn't seem to fit as well either. We have a anonymous box where you can ask questions in our QSA (we call them queeries), so I asked how people knew they were gay/bi/queer, and one of my best friends answered that she just chose a label and stuck with it. She is constantly yelling "I'm GAY!!!" so I'm guessing that worked.

So that's what I did. I still felt the most attachment to being Bi, so I chose that one. I never said it out loud, but after 2 months of me calling myself bi in my head, I knew it was right. I was bisexual.

The only problem left for me is coming out. I told most of my friends at school, and they all took it pretty darn awesome. I mean, most of them had to go through the same thing once. I genuinly don't know how to come out to my family though, and I know they will be ok with it. So, if anyone has any idea for that, please message me! My username's @windwooden.

If anyone else has the same inside turmoil that I did, just know that it gets better. Just focus on yourself and learn about you. 

Love, Annabelle