By Megan Snedeker
PROMPT — If only ...
If only you could see beyond black or white, between an arbitrary need for the binary. We are not two halves of a whole, two separate identities looking for inclusion. We are a whole being, a whole person who doesn’t tolerate your exclusion.
If only you could see that being bisexual isn’t half red and half blue. It’s purple. We’re a beautiful mixture of lost loves and heartbreaks and first kisses. We don’t pick who holds our heart; we’re a jumbled mess of shots fired and sloppy messes.
If only you didn’t see me as straight when I’m with you and gay when I’m with them. As “normal” when we’re together and “queer” when you forget who I am. If only you didn’t let my identity, the thing that makes me me, suddenly become your problem.
If only I didn’t have to worry that when a man steals my heart I’m suddenly “straight” or when a woman catches my eye I’m a “lesbian,” but I bloomed late.
If only you could see that I’m not who I am so you can have opinions on what I do. I’m who I need to be. I’m purple; I’m not half red and half blue.
Megan Snedeker is a young, debut writer with a passion for her identity as a proud bisexual woman. Her focus is social commentary, calling for positive change, and offering the sort of diverse voice she should have heard as a child.