[muse]

Yesterday I participated in the Day of Silence at my college. I am a freshman, and being at school has been the catalyst to me accepting, coming out with, and embracing my sexuality, so it meant a lot to me to be able to join in with the campus' GLBTTQQIAAP (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, ally, pansexual--yup, that's our acronym!) community as a proud member of that group.

We had a silent vigil in the middle of campus, and there was a huge circle of kids standing in silence for everyone who couldn't speak up for themselves. Then there was the BBQ in the afternoon--a ton of kids having a water fight in the sunshine on the fresh green grass, with good food and good music and some of my favorite people. Finally we had an open mic night, and I got to read a poem I'd written about a relative who committed suicide because his family could not accept that he was gay... it felt as though I was putting some big wrong to rights by reading it for him, on a day that he never got to experience.

I am so blessed, so incredibly lucky, to have such a huge support group here on campus and to feel so validated about who I am. I can only hope that you all have had, or will have, experiences like this, and at the very least know that the movement toward acceptance is growing and gaining strength every year!

[Katileena]

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is "pansexual"

[muse]

It's fine, I actually had no idea what pansexual meant until I came to college. Basically it means that you consider the individual's mind and heart foremost, not the body they are housed in or their gender identity (like if they're transexual or intersex). Some consider it an "updated" definition of bisexuality, since many bisexuals define themselves as falling in love with a person, not their body, but some, like myself, feel more comfortable with one label or another (I prefer bisexual).

Wikipedia's definition can be found here, and is quite accurate.