I've got a question for the local QUILTBAG community, and while posting this early may technically be jumping ahead of everyone else this year, I figure there's gotta be someone else here dealing with the same general issue right now.
I kinda figured out since the last Coming Out Day that I'm among those who are represented by the black, grey, white, and purple flag. Explaining things exactly would likely eventually out me as Legal Name Me eventually for sure (it's amazing how fine-tuned definitions can get) so I'll leave it at me being in the grey part of that spectrum, and heteroromantic so the heterosexual privilege is still pretty much in force.
The question is below the squiggle.
Is the strange feeling in the pit of my stomach and the roaring nightmares of unacceptance last night normal?
My boyfriend already knows, accepts it, and I'm absolutely 100% sure there is no way he's lying to me about that.
I told my pastor Sunday, and he's being even more awesome than he usually is. Which is saying something, for he is quite awesome.
My parents are a different story, and I know at least one of them is writing off The Obvious Signs as the leftovers of being raised in an abstinence-only church culture. Which means that since I figured out the label that fit me, I've been hearing more and more of the sex-positive me-negative talk (my pastor thinks I've just been sensitized, but either way the effect is the same).
At least it's better than having it framed as caused by a bad relationship, which is part of what I'm worried is going to happen. Said bad relationship was mostly bad because of unrecognized mismatched orientations.
I've got the 'here is what these terms mean' guide cobbled together and printed, but I still feel like being a chicken. My pastor even invited me to call and tell him how things go if I manage to not be a chicken (the chicken framing was all me).
I'll check comments in the morning, because I need to make up the sleep from the nightmares last night (and allow plenty of time for tonight's batch...).
I'm sorry for not waiting to post until I'll be conscious to talk, but I figured that maybe I wasn't the only one having a nervous day and night in anticipation of tomorrow and that other people (particularly anyone who might be sleepless from stress) could use the answer too.