My name is Rachel and I’m from Keller, Texas. This one time I went to the Texas Renaissance Festival and afterwards they have this huge bonfire. It’s super fun, everybody’s dancing around, and they’re playing drums and stuff and girls in chain mail. And I saw this girl across the fire and she was super cute, her name is Cleo but I don’t know if that’s her real name, she was really mysterious. She had a really smooth face, it was just a really nice, androgynous face, and I saw her wearing this top hot and I went around asking everybody, “Where’s the person in the top hat” because I couldn’t even tell what gender she was but she was just attractive. She’s a tall person, short hair, but I found her eventually. We really hit it off and I had this boyfriend at the time but he was pretty much cool with whatever which was awesome.

So me and this girl Cleo, we really liked each other so we agreed to go to South Beach, which is a gay club in Houston where I live, the next weekend or two after that. So we went and we were sitting there, resting from dancing, and this girl walked by and Cleo was like, “Oh my God I know that girl, I went to high school with her and she’s just so cute and I always liked her” and that girl had a girl with her and she’s here at the gay club so she likes girls, so what a discovery for Cleo, but she’s too scared. And even though we were being super brave at the Renaissance Festival, I was like, “Come on, you can do it, I know you have it in you, let’s go ask her for a kiss.” She was like, “No, you have to do it!” And I said, “Okay, I’m going to do it, I’m going to be the brave person for you.” So we went up to this girl on the dance floor and I was like, “Can we kiss you?” And she was so flattered but was like, “No, I’m here with my girlfriend but I totally would but thank you” And I was like, “Okay, no problem.”

So we got to dancing and I had my boyfriend there so I was kind of dancing with Cleo then I was back dancing with him, and this girl who we had approached turned back to us and sees me dancing with my boyfriend and she was like, “You’re straight?!” And was so offended. Like it didn’t count that I wanted to kiss her before, it was ridiculous. So this girl was really mad when she found out I was straight, which I’m not, I’m bisexual, and I hear that’s a big problem in the queer community, not accepting bisexuals, but that was the first time I experienced it. And it didn’t hurt my feelings because I think it’s kind of funny that she was so wrong about it, so it’s no big deal to me but I think it’s really weird that some people don’t think bisexuals exist because we do. So she was flattered that I wanted to kiss her when she assumed that that meant that I only liked girls but when I like boys too that somehow it’s fake or something.

I feel like it’s important because you are your own direct experience of humanity so you have to go by your own input from your body and your responses. So if you actually like girls and you actually like boys then don’t worry about it and don’t let anybody give you shit for it because you’ve got your life to live. Have all the fun you can and do no harm, but fun also.