I'm not a racial minority, so my story isn't as upsetting or depressing (seriously, reading some of the comments on here about racial discrimination is fucking disgusting). but I am a bisexual woman; until my first year of college, I basically didn't have any issues with discrimination, even though I'm out and proud.

then I went to a support group for bisexual, pansexual, and lesbian women during my first month at university, which made me really excited to meet other women like me at a place where I wasn't quite comfortable yet. however, during the meeting, the lesbian senior who was running the group brought up bisexuality and said: "There are absolutely no bisexuals who are equally attracted to both sexes and I wish people would stop making that up."

my breath caught a bit. that was kind of upsetting to hear, because I've always experienced equal attraction to both sexes and have absolutely no preference, romantic or sexual. when I piped up and said that yes, those bisexuals do exist and that one was sitting in front of her, she made a face and said, "no, I think you have a preference and you're just wrong." everyone in the group agreed.

I had a group of people--who were struggling as much with their own sexualities as me--completely invalidate my sexuality while sitting in front of me. I was on the verge of tears. I got up and left the group quietly and went back and cried in my dorm room. after that, I attempted to attend a few more functions, but was largely ignored by everyone in the LGBT+ community from there on out and have not been able to move forward because I'm that "weird bisexual" and some have even called me a "liar." I'm still openly bisexual, but the community on my campus will not acknowledge me, so I've turned my activism to sexual assault and domestic violence instead.