B is for Brodie and Bisexual
by Brodie Thompson
PRIDE, what a beautiful time of the year. But all year should be just as beautiful, we can celebrate the diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community all year and it doesn’t have to just be when we don our rainbows. It’s great to see a celebration of rainbow pride but we also need to question the rainbow washing. I’ve seen so many logos updated for Pride and adding their rainbow logo to signatures or social media sites but alongside the rainbow — what support is being offered to the LGBTQIA+ community? I am not going to deny the fact, I LOVE seeing the rainbows everywhere but I also want to see LGBTQIA+ mission statements supported all year round. Support needs to be measurable and not only an array of colourful lights. Support needs to have outcomes and it’s important to question what we see on our feeds, and find out if it’s more than a marketing campaign.
I came out as bisexual only a few years ago; it was a part of myself that I had kept hidden. I’m bold and energetic (well I have a mask that portrays this) but I noticed my bright light fading (even if it was a mask, I was struggling to breathe under its growing weight). This dwindling of flame from my life was a result of me not being authentically me. I’d faced so many dark, deep holes of depression that I had been able to mask but I noticed I was in one that the light was so dark and I couldn’t see the way to escape.
There was a part of me that I had not shared with others. And not only was hiding my mental health difficulties making it harder to see the light, the light I could see was disappearing because I felt I would face stigma if I came out as bisexual. I felt like I had reached a crossroads of either going up a road of the lights going dark forever or taking the other direction and opening up about the fact that even though I was conditioned to only like men, I liked women too.
I went towards the light, I came out and my light began to up the wattage and a new found brightness and boldness began to emerge from under that lampshade of a mask I had been wearing.
When I became an ambassador for See Change, not only did I find out that by speaking about my mental health difficulties would the shade I had always masked myself with lift, but I felt it was gone for good as I no longer felt shame about my sexuality (or eating disorder or anxiety or depression), shame that was a result of the self-stigma because I thought people would treat me different if they knew what had gone on under that mask.
It is so important to remember you are never alone. It is so important to be authentically you. There is so much support out there for everyone! Don’t hide in the shadows, embrace your brightness and let it shine!
If you are having a tough time at the moment and need to reach out for support, please contact any of the following
