I’m LGBTQ, but You Don’t Know THIS About Me

A Prism & Pen writing prompt

Can I just say I totally rock some gay stereotypes?

I have lots of women friends and enough fruit in my boot to run a fruit cocktail factory. I haven’t seen the inside of a church in decades. And, sweety? I stir up a mean Cosmo as I binge Absolutely Fabulous. (What what what? Never heard of AbFab? Ooh lah, girlfriend! Get thee to a streaming service!)

But I bet you don’t know THIS about me: I’m an expert largemouth bass fisherman, a good jackleg electrician, and skilled at operating industrial equipment like Bobcats and forklifts. And some of my closest friends are faithful church goers.

What about you? Frivolous or serious?

My examples are mostly silly, but we queer people simultaneously embody and shatter stereotypes all the time, often in deadly serious ways. Often, we are complex, three-dimensional people who get shoehorned (even by genuinely kind people, even by each other) into boxes that aren’t healthy for us or for the upcoming generation of queer youth.

What are YOUR stories? As an LGBTQ person, what do people NOT know about you that might surprise them? What stereotypes do you fulfill? Which ones do you shatter? How is your life…