I missed the conversation on growing out of homophobia while it was happening but I did want to share that as a kid I was raised to be a homophobe and now I'm a raging guy kisser who has a private twitter with 5 of my closest friends chronicling every single thing the guy I've liked on and off for 4 years does. Growth
Speaking of which (and some of you may already know this)...
Shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who knows me, but figured I'd also "come out" as biromantic/panromantic anyways.
homoromantic* turns out I was also a victim of comphet (compulsive heterosexuality for any lurkers who don't know what the term means and may be too shy to ask) as a kid. Still asexual, though.
For the longest time I was afraid to "change" my labels - I felt like once I picked something, I had to stick to it or else I'd be accused of lying? Or people would be like "oh so you can't decide" or something?
In my case it wasn't really changing labels, but rather discovering more about who I've been all along. There were times where I'd say I thought an actress looked pretty which was purely me admiring her style with absolutely no attraction present whatsoever, and that'd be used as a case of me liking a girl. At the time, it'd confuse me a lot because I didn't actually experience any attraction - I just genuinely did think the actress looked good, but I thought that was the case for everyone else because it'd be presented to me as such. And, well, it'd be the case for actors as well and there'd still be absolutely no sexual attraction there. I don't find them hot, I find them beautiful. I think their style looks good, but I'm not attracted to them. I wouldn't wanna date them solely because of their looks, but I'd be open to grabbing a coffee with them so we can talk about life or going to the mall so we can talk wardrobes. But if I talked to someone and they seemed nice, I'd absolutely be open to pursuing a romantic relationship with them (although it's unlikely, considering how long I've liked this one guy for).
Just because that was the case for me doesn't mean it has to be the case for you. Just because learning that I was still seeing my life through a comphet lens doesn't mean that's the only reason that exists for changing labels - sexuality is fluid, and I want to tell anyone who's reading this that if you feel like your attraction has changed, then you're valid for that. And if you don't feel like your attraction has changed, that's cool too. Labels are labels, and they can be immensely helpful for us to describe ourselves, but we define our labels - they don't define us. Your journey's your own, and someone changing their labels three times in a month is just as valid as someone who's known who they are all along. I'm putting this here both as a disclaimer that my story doesn't have to speak for anyone else's experience, but also because I feel like both people who are queer and people who are allys can often (unintentionally) influence someone into thinking a label fits them when it doesn't. After all, it's what happened with me. And that isn't always done with ill intent - I don't hold any grudges against the people who helped me figure out who I was, because they're good people and we're all growing up in a world where comphet is very much a thing that influences all of our ways of thinking and existing. But no matter how long it takes for you to figure out what labels you prefer, or if you prefer labels at all (unlabelled homies I see you and love you), you're valid.
Anyway, tl;dr: hi Smogon! I'm Ren and I'm from this country.