Hi, I think it's good to vent, hopefully it helped you to feel a little better. I think most of us have probably run into the kind of people that think mental illness is in your head, gender and sexuality are black and white, etc., so even if it feels like you're alone in the situation you find yourself in, I promise you're not. My father has preferred to pretend I don't exist for years because I can't just pick myself up by my bootstraps.

Venting aside, I would like to say one thing and please don't take it as a harsh judgment or admonishment. It's just I've been in a similar place to where you are now in the past, in my early to mid 20s working my *** off despite mental illness and instead of confronting and treating the problem I turned all of my frustrations outward. Angry about every news article, every jerk in the world, every person at work who made work for me, who drove inconsiderately... so on. I spent so much energy just being angry and I don't know why. Maybe to distract myself from how much I myself was struggling? Not sure.

Anyway, I say this only because it sounds like you may be in a similar place. And a change isn't easy and it certainly won't come over night... but basically, we cannot control or change every jerk or ignorant person in the world, everyone who judges us or others unfairly... we just can't. There isn't enough time or energy to take them all. The only thing we can control is how we react to it. After many years I finally got to a place where I can let go of many of the things I cannot control. Another small family example: I'm coming up on 30 years old and my grandmother tells me every time she sees me I need to cut my hair and shave my beard and will even send me gift cards to do it, HINT HINT. Sends me her church pamphlets because I'm a nonbeliever.. because she comes from a different time/place. It used to annoy the crap out of me... now I just laugh to myself about it and am more comfortable in being who I am and letting her be who she is even if we don't see eye to eye. Everyone is different and I'm not sure my ignoring/finding the humor in others is the RIGHT way to do things but I know I feel much better without a lot of that negative energy that used to just eat me up inside. Still slip up from time to time.

I'm really sorry if this came off poorly. There's nothing wrong with the way you are or the way you react to things by any stretch of the imagination. Just wanted to say it can get easier with time and experience. Hang in there. No matter what she thinks of you or your sexuality, just keep being yourself. She has as little power to change you as you do her.