I identify as a pansexual woman and have struggled with my identity for a long time. Years ago, when I first realised I was not straight, I identified as bisexual because my exposure to the LGBTQ+ had been limited, and the fact that Pansexuality was a natural and recognised sexuality was not something I was even minutely aware of.
To this day, one of the most impactful moments of my life was the day I came out to my mother. It was right in the middle of the pandemic, I vividly remember her standing in the kitchen, making her special lemon chicken, as I slowly worked up the courage to call out to her and ask her to sit down with me for a second. She walked into the living room, sweaty and slightly annoyed because I had disrupted her cooking and wasn’t ready to tell her why. She sat down and looked at me in confusion as I burst into tears and told her through my sobs that I was attracted to girls too. I was overwhelmed, scared, and uncomfortable talking about something I had been avoiding all my life. The half a second she took to process this information felt like hours to me, until her face broke into a smile. “So?” she asked me, with an amused smile on her face. “Why do you feel the need to cry about this, it’s okay.” That’s all she said to me before she wrapped me in a giant hug and then walked back into the kitchen. To anyone else, this may seem like a normal reaction, but to me, it meant everything. The fact that my mumma accepted me for who I am without any questions or any conditions, gave me the strength to be who I am, unapologetically.
I have been lucky to be surrounded by loving, supporting allies, but I am one of the few lucky ones. We live in a society that demonises everything it doesn’t understand, and our kind of love is something that it has never understood. To read these pieces written by some amazingly talented individuals, and to watch them embrace the raw beauty of pride has been a profoundly moving experience for me. For every edition of the Chronicle, I pick out just a few of the entries we receive, but this time I wanted everyone who wanted to share their feelings to have a platform, so I have decided to publish all of the entries. I hope they affect you as deeply as they did me.
Nandini Dang, Editor-in-chief
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