#accept yourselves

My good friend coming out as transgender and Steven Universe had already helped to push me along a path of acceptance, but it all came together when one night I was thinking about the statement “love is love”.

Then, I realized.

For the first time in my life, I was experiencing feelings for a wonderful man (who I still have feelings for) and I realized, what if being straight was taboo instead and people thought my love for him was “disgusting”, “unnatural”, and people hated me for simply being in love? How unfair would that be when my love never hurt anybody or did anything wrong?

Expressing valid feelings of anger and sadness are NOT things you *do* to people. You have a right to not be silenced, whoever you are. It’s ok to feel upset and to talk about it. THIS IS OK.

I am so frustrated when I read things by men who want to devalue the emotions of women and blame them for having them. Even having mental illness does not mean you deserve to be demeaned or called “crazy”. Some people need to talk out their feelings, and some bottle it up. Just because you are uncomfortable with emotional expression does not make those who aren’t bad people or undeserving of love.

So if someone is doing this to you or making you feel like it is unsafe to express yourself, know that this is NOT OK.