The quiet discussion and good-luck affirmations between you and the person helping you don your armor. The comfort of knowing that the straps and buckles are perfectly secure, because the person who did them up loves you more than words can say.
i think an important thing for people to understand, especially with the rise of gatekeeping in the community, is that labels are for personal use
and like, human sexuality and gender is complicated! most people don’t fit perfectly into their assigned box! but they still have the right to call themselves what makes them happiest!
attracted to like 98% women, 2% men, but still consider yourself bisexual? you’re right to do so, you’re still attracted to multiple genders!
attracted to 98% women, 2% men, but still wanna call yourself a lesbian? that’s a valid choice, you feel way more attracted to girls and that’s fine!
aro/ace but you had a crush one time? a lot of us do! you’re still aro/ace and don’t have to choose a different label if you don’t want to!
aspec somewhere but can’t figure out where you fall because sexuality is confusing? i get that, dude, you’ll figure it out! you don’t have to find the perfect label right now if you don’t want to, just focus on being yourself!
trans but sometimes feel like your assigned gender? that’s okay! you don’t have to re-question your identity if you don’t want to, you know what gender you are, self doubt and sometimes feeling different don’t get to say you’re not!
genderfluid but spend most of your time as one gender? that’s fine! the fluid part is still an important part of you, it deserves to be recognised!
not inconvenienced by your assigned gender, but feel like the whole concept is bullshit and would rather go by they/them pronouns? that’s fair, it is a bit bullshit, go you!!
anyone else i haven’t mentioned who experiences this? same goes for you too! i love who you are and i hope you can also love being who you are, and it doesn’t matter if you fit someone’s definition of that or not. we are a community built on being different, on standing up for ourselves in the face of people telling us who we are is wrong. it’s not wrong, and all of your labels, however many you want, be it 10 or 0, they’re important to you, and no one gets to take that away from you