I can't stand certainty. The arrogance of thinking you know something really annoys me. Especially as it relates to people, other people, but also yourself.

I've been studying sexuality and gender issues for a long time now, however, they've been particularly on my mind for the past couple of months. The way I see it, the GLBT community is designed for gays and lesbians, but the bisexuals and transgenders are still pretty much marginalized and discriminated against. It's frustrating enough when that discrimination comes from outside of the community, but I find it especially distasteful when other gays and lesbians are quick to criticise bisexuals or trans people or to throw them under the bus for their own gain.

Maybe I'm expecting too much. I'm beginning to think that perhaps I am. People, it seems, are naturally closed-minded. A lot of heterosexuals (not all of course) cannot conceive of anything but MAN and WOMAN and their attraction only to the opposite sex. Then gay and lesbian people come along and they say "hey wait a minute, I am attracted to the same sex." Now it seems to me that that "unique" perspective would give them pause. It seems like it would make them say to themselves (or even better to others), "see, now clearly sexuality isn't this black or white thing. Clearly gender and gender roles are also more fluid." Yeah not so much. Unfortunately, it seems gays and lesbians are just as capable as anyone else of being repulsed, distrustful, or generally perplexed as hell when it comes to bisexuals or trans people.

It seems that a great many gays and lesbians still need their certainty. They need to know "I am a man, end of story." Or "I am a woman, end of story" or "I only date other men" or "I only date other women." It seems that ideally what they want is to believe that people either fall in love with a man OR a woman, but not either. They want to be certain that the people they know as straight will continue to date the opposite sex and that the people they know as gay or lesbian will continue to date the same sex. They want to know what's in between someone's legs, because clearly that will be a reliable indication of how that person is going to act, think, and feel. Surely bisexuals must be "confused" or "in denial". A transgender person who doesn't feel comfortable in their birth roles must similarly be "confused" or else just "really sick". In both cases the last thing the gay or lesbian person wants to do is be associated with such an individual. They don't want to take the time or effort to understand them. Worse, they certainly don't want to question their own feelings about their sexuality and gender.

I'm just so damn sick of it! I'm so sick of the f**king notion that "boys act one way and girls act another."

I just don't think that life should be this black and white. I don't think sexuality and gender should be so rigid.

I am a gay male, that is my "identification". It also works pretty well for me most of the time. I have absolutely no desire to have "girl parts" for myself. In general I'm very comfortable in the "role" of a gay male. It fits. However, that doesn't mean that I don't think the whole notion of "roles" is ridiculous, limiting, and narrow-minded.

I'm a very sexual person. I could certainly enjoy sexual things with a female. They're not my primary attraction by any means, but even if I'm not attracted that doesn't mean that I couldn't happily share my sexuality with them. I've shared my sexuality with guys I wasn't attracted to. It seems to me it would be the same thing with women. Apart from which I am attracted to some women sometimes.

I do think of my sexuality as "gay". That is what identifies me the best but it certainly doesn't encompass all of my sexual feelings. I'm certainly not threatened by having sexual feelings toward women sometimes and I'm sure as hell not threatened by other guys who sleep with guys having sexual feelings toward women. It doesn't repulse me, it doesn't scare me, it doesn't make me jealous, and it doesn't make me suspicious.

When it comes to gender I'm even more open-minded and fluid. I'm a "guy" but I have my own unique, fluid definition for what that means anyway. I love my physical body and am very satisfied with it, but when it comes to emotional, intellectual, and behavioural aspects of my personality I consider myself essentially androgynous. There's no telling what role, emotion, behaviour, or line of thinking I'll take. I can't predict, and I certainly don't want anyone else to try, especially not because of my "gender".

I do love gay and lesbian people, probably more - as a whole - than any other type of people, but I am deeply disappointed by how certain the majority of them like to try to be.