I was raised primarily by strong female role models, so I gravitate to a number of people that are lesbians. My time being friends with many of them have been full of some of the craziest, rowdiest moments, but also some of the closest as there have been so many ways we’ve been able to bond that just don’t seem to happen as organically as with CIS people. My lifelong best friend came out as gay a few years after college, and now his partner came out a few years after, and again, there are tons of things we can talk about that would probably be a little awkward for many of my straight guy friends.

I never thought much about it while it was all going on. It all started in the late 90s, and I was much more conservative back then, and knowing all these people and having these fun times with all of them has really been lifechanging. I can say with confidence that my life is many times better today having been friends with people from different walks of life than my own. I’d never let anyone talk crap on any of them, because no one has ever had my back as hard as most of them.