In light of pride month, I've decided to write about how I discovered I wasn't straight. Everybody's story is different so I am in no way describing what it's like for everybody. But here is my personal experience.

When I was younger, I made so sure that I was as much like everybody else as I could be. I wore dresses to church, I wanted everything that was 'in' with my generation, and most of all, all I ever tried to do was to fit in. Despite my efforts, I always felt different than everybody else. I was never sure how I was different, but something in me knew.

The summer between sixth and seventh grade I moved. The years before that were filled with the same kids I grew up with until then. For those 8 years, I desperately tried to fit in. But moving allowed me to realize that I don't have to be like everybody else. When I moved, it forced me to become my own person. I had no idea who these kids were, I had no idea how to fit in with them like I had tried so hard before. At my old school, I even made up crushes because I realized all of my friends had crushes on boys and not once in my life did I ever experience that. When I got to my new school, I ended up making friends with this small group. Through this group I was introduced to this girl... we'll call her Cherie.

I started hanging out with Cherie a lot and had realized she might be my best friend. However, Cherie was not always nice to me and it took me until the end of seventh grade to realize that I liked her. My thought process was along the lines of "she's kinda mean to me sometimes, but why am I so enthralled with her?" I specifically remember this moment as realizing I liked girls. For me, my brain went immediately to "I'm bisexual." But little did I know it would take me another few weeks to realize I don't even like boys.

A few years down and I'm now a freshman in high school. I've been dating a girl for a year and a half. When I start doubting my sexuality yet again. I felt like maybe I made a decision about my sexuality without exploring enough. There was maybe about an eighth of me that thought "How am I so sure I don't like boys?"

I ended up dating a guy for two months before coming to my senses and being like "hooty hoo what the heck am I doing?"

Since then I've realized I'm 100% a lesbian and I have no desire to adventure anymore into the straight zone. Now, a few years after that I discovered the term "demisexual." I had no idea what that was so I googled it. Demisexuals are people who don't get intimate or even sometimes romantic with someone they don't know. Demisexuals basically have to know the person and be comfortable before any of that happens. I had no idea this was a thing, but it definitely described me. Personally, I thought this was how most people are. Unknown to me, this is on the asexual spectrum. I don't really use demisexual as a defining term of my sexuality, but it's cool to know that there's a word for how I feel.

Nowadays, I identify as a lesbian and I'm pretty confident about it.

I no longer have any desire whatsoever to be like anybody else. Nobody in this world could stop me from holding my rainbow flag high and proud.