"LESBIAN" SOUNDED LIKE A DISEASE
A Poem
Growing up,
the term Lesbian
sounded like a disease.
it used to sit
on the tip of my tongue.
Distaste and discomfort.
I called myself everything but Lesbian.
Because labeling myself as gay or queer
was less uncomfortable,
even though it meant the
same thing.
Now as an adult, I embrace it.
I seek out lesbian spaces
because to be surrounded by
women loving women,
there is a feeling of,
“I am safe here.”
It’s the same way you feel when
you take a deep breath
in and let it out.
A sigh of relief.
Well said. I was raised Catholic and I feared the label. I wrote off every girl crush I had as just wanting to be like that girl- not with her.
And I hid from the label and in the closet- forced into a comp het lifestyle for way too long.
But now- I’m unabashedly a lesbian.