Good day my presumably straight fellow readers!

I am right in assuming that? That you must be straight, in the heteronormative society that we all live in it would be downright absurd to think that at this age you would know that you were anything but a straight, cisgender individual!

Sound familiar? I’m sure all of you reading this will have at some point in your lives been assumed heterosexual, whether this is correct or otherwise. This is to such an extreme that young children are told that they’re straight until they’re old enough to argue, and then they’re told they’re too young to know. If this isn’t gay erasure then I don’t know what is! Why is someone too young to even know the meaning of the word ‘sexuality’ assumed straight, but at the age of sixteen (or even older in some cases) they’re not allowed to be gay? Is it because you need to pick the ‘right’ path?* Or is it simply because society frowns upon anyone who could possibly be attracted to anyone other than the opposite gender?

According to a recent study published by the guardian there are 545,000 homosexuals living in Britain and 22,000 Bi-Sexual people on top of that. That means that there’s a one in ten chance that the small child you’re raising to think that being anything other than heterosexual is wrong (or at least not normal) will spend their teenage years stressing to the point of depression about ‘coming out’ in the society they believe to think condemns the different as ‘wrong’ or ‘broken’.

“But this is an extreme” I hear you cry! If only! Gay teenagers are two times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers; that number jumps to eight times as likely if they experience parental rejection.

On a similar note why is it necessary for a person to ‘come out’? This only happens because our culture automatically assumes someone is heterosexual unless they go through the gruelling experience of telling loved ones that they were wrong all along. This is possibly one of the hardest of being a member of the LGBT community, telling someone that their ‘ideals’ aren’t going to fit you. The very fact that this process is necessary is evidence of the problem that I am trying to fight.

The road to equality is a long one, but hopefully there will be a time when the question ‘so you’ve got yourself a boyfriend?’ won’t change in tone according to your gender. The first and final step is normality.

Thank you very much for reading and I hope you think twice about telling those young children they would make a good couple next time you see them. 

*If this is the case then it is truly ironic as from the age of fourteen (in the UK) you are asked to make decision that will impact your future career choices. It’s interesting that you can make an economic decision but not realise your own sexuality at the same age.