Just two little words

The words always stick a little in my throat.

"I'm gay."

Do I hesitate because I am ashamed?

Hell no. I am magnificent. I love every single little piece of my puzzle. 

No, the reason I hesitate - aside from the fact that I feel a little uncomfortable because there is no real label that feels right when I try to apply it - is because there is always that question in the back of my mind: How will this person react?

Will there be a long, uncomfortable silence?

Will they start telling me about their third cousin, twice removed, who they all thought might have been "that way"?

Will someone tell me how they could never possibly be attracted to someone of the same sex?

Will someone tell me how this or that religious text says I am a violation of nature?

Will a woman say, "We can still be friends...as long as you don't try to get in my pants!"

Will a man say, "Sweet! Can I watch?" Or even worse, will he say, "Oh, you just haven't had the right man yet. I can be the one to change that."

How can two little words generate such a loaded response from nearly everyone who hears them?

You would think that who I am attracted to, who I have sex with, and who I love would be no one else's business. In fact, you would think it would be of little importance whatsoever in the grand scheme of things. 

After all, in what world would I be denied entry to a restaurant or a store because I happen to like women?

In what world would it be okay to ask me if I was molested as a child, because that would "explain things"?

In what world would it be okay to ask if you can watch me and my girlfriend be intimate because you've "never seen anything like that before"?

In what world would it be acceptable to subject a child to harmful "corrective practices" because he liked other little boys instead of girls?

In what world would people be able to legally decide whether or not I get to marry to the woman I love?

In what world would a man be murdered because he was attracted to other men?

In what world would I be considered less than human because I am in love with another woman?

Oh, yeah, that's right...this world. This world, where who turns me on is more important than who I am. This world, where we care more about what is going on inside someone's bedroom than what is going on inside oh, I don't know, our nation's government, for example. That's the world we're living in, just in case you hadn't realized.