🚫 What it means to have grown up experiencing discrimination based on sexual orientation
Growing up with discrimination based on sexual orientation meant learning that who you love or how you express your identity was seen as wrong, dangerous, or something to be hidden from the world.
You may have developed a sixth sense for detecting rejection or prejudice, learning to hide parts of your identity or change how you speak and act in different settings—wearing different masks for different worlds. Your survival depended on reading social dynamics and knowing instantly whether you were welcome or needed to protect yourself.
You may have found safety in belonging to communities that embraced being different from the mainstream, but this protective strategy sometimes means avoiding mainstream spaces entirely or exhausting yourself by pretending to fit in. The belief that only people like you could truly love and accept you became both sanctuary and limitation.