what is so wrong about being me? look, i obviously don’t know a lot, I’m only 17 years old, but why does my sexuality and identity have to be seen as a bad thing? Sure, I can understand somebody not necessarily being like “oh yeah! i totally understand and appreciate your life decisions and will never treat you differently after learning about it!”, but does it really go so far as people genuinely hate me because of something that i can’t control? sure, i could hide it, i so could. I mean I get that people have religions that condemn people like me, but that shouldn’t be allowed. like I know that it’s like their whole thing in life and everything, but should laws actually allow discrimination because of their beliefs? i mean i know i can’t just go to a church and disrespect everything there, i wouldn’t. but at a business, can’t they separate that from their beliefs? like what am i supposed to do? have my own kids? that isn’t possible for me, and just because of my partner, i can’t raise a kid? i don’t mean now, obviously. but am i just supposed to accept that? if they had their human rights taken away, i would still want to help them. i mean, i know not everyone is a kind person, but we’re all people. i don’t want to hurt others with my ideals. and i know that that’s why i’ll never be understood by more than like 10 people but if everyone could be at least a little more understanding, this hell of a life would be a little better for everyone stuck here. why should some people have to be afraid because of things that they can’t be in control of? how have humans been living for thousands of years if not tens of thousands or whatever, and still be racist or discriminate people on things that they can’t help? i think that these people that support laws allowing discrimination aren’t really looking at it from any other perspective other than theirs. and should that be present in people who can propose laws? like, egocentric people can be helpful dealing with similar issues to what they have, but they’re in charge of protecting so many groups of people. and yet they can do that while being so close-minded? how does that work? if you could answer any of these questions i have, please help me to understand. i want to know how to change this, so my future isn’t full of more fear than what i already deal with.

-sincerely, a very confused teen who wants change.