StoryCorps: “I’m not complicated…”
Lacey: I identify as bisexual so that means that I am attracted to people of multiple genders. I used to feel like, in queer spaces, that I wasn’t queer enough to be there. I was constantly having this fear that other people were sort of assessing my queerness. It constantly felt like it was insufficient to me.
Sarah: Can you take us back to a moment or that series of moments when you didn’t feel queer enough for that space?
Lacey: There were groups on campus who were supportive, a gay/straight student alliance, and I remember going to meetings and just feeling like the language was so exclusive and it was either “gay and lesbian this” or “gay and lesbian that.” There was sort of an idea that I had that I was faking it or something, that I didn’t deserve to be in the spaces.
Sarah: It sounds really isolating. I think that sometimes we have to be each other’s guides into those conversations, which leads me to the Bi Brunches.
Lacey: I really just wanted a space where other bi people could be around each other. It’s hard sometimes for us as bi people to see each other.
Sarah: I think Bi Brunch for me is a really simple way of opening our community up and allowing people to connect with us.
I think knowing that you’re not alone … I just felt as a bi person that I was the butt of people’s jokes. I had an out gay man say to me “bisexuals aren’t real,” like we’re some sort off figment of somebody’s imagination. I had a female partner for a long time, and she would come to Thanksgivings. People assumed then that I was identifying as lesbian. Years later, when my partner, who is male-identified, came to Thanksgiving, I had an uncle who asked my mom, “So has Sarah turned straight now?” My mom’s response, even though she’s pretty educated, she said, “No, no, no. It’s complicated.” And that was her way of stopping the conversation. I talked to her about it later, and I said “Mom, you know, I’m not complicated, my identity’s not complicated.” I think bisexuality is a pretty easy thing to understand.
Birmingham Museum of Art’s silver exhibit tells a dazzling global story
Silver and Ceremony is made up of more than 150 suites of silver, sourced from India, and some of their designs.
Mentally ill people are stuck in jail because they can’t get treatment. Here’s what’s to know
Hundreds of people across Alabama await a spot in the state’s increasingly limited facilities, despite a consent decree requiring the state to address delays in providing care for people who are charged with crimes but deemed too mentally ill to stand trial. But seven years since the federal agreement, the problem has only worsened.
Ivey appoints Will Parker to Alabama Supreme Court
Parker fills the court seat vacated by Bill Lewis who was tapped by President Donald Trump for a federal judgeship. The U.S. Senate last month confirmed Lewis as a U.S. district judge.
How Alabama Power kept bills up and opposition out to become one of the most powerful utilities in the country
In one of the poorest states in America, the local utility earns massive profits producing dirty energy with almost no pushback from state regulators.
No more Elmo? APT could cut ties with PBS
The board that oversees Alabama Public Television is considering disaffiliating from PBS, ending a 55-year relationship.
Nonprofit erases millions in medical debt across Gulf South, says it’s ‘Band-Aid’ for real issue
Undue Medical Debt has paid off more than $299 million in medical debts in Alabama. Now, the nonprofit warns that the issue could soon get worse.
