“Queer is Weird.” I’m From Atlanta, GA.

by Penny Peck

State Satellite overhead image from Google Earth 2022

Queer is weird.

I was 13 when I began to realize I wasn’t straight. It’s not that I don’t like boys, I just like girls more. I went through a few labels trying to identify my sexuality. Straight, bi, lesbian, pansexual. None of them seemed to fit correctly.

I definitely wasn’t straight. Bi didn’t work because I like more than just boys and girls. Lesbian was closer but there was always that one boy. Pansexual sorta worked but I wouldn’t want to date some genders.

Where did this leave me? When people asked about my sexuality I would say the only think I could think of: it’s weird.

My sexuality is weird.

I wasn’t exposed to LGBTQ community growing up. It wasn’t that my parents hated the community, it just wasn’t an issue or worth bringing up. So when I learned the word “queer” my mom told me it was a synonym for weird.

As I entered the LGBTQ community, people were throwing the word queer around left and right. It meant something a little different to each person. It suddenly dawned on me that this word was a perfect match.

I’m weird, my sexuality is weird. I’m queer.

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