We didn't come out

We didn’t come out

to educate you over brunch.

We’re not your queer best friend

in a Netflix reboot

with perfect skin

and one-liners about trauma.

We came out

so we could stop lying at dinner.

We didn’t come out

to be your experiment.

We’re not here to “open your mind.”

We’ve been living with ours

wide open

for years —

bleeding, brilliant, and mispronounced.

We didn’t come out

to debate bathrooms.

We pee.

Just like you.

Only we do it

while wondering if this is the day

someone follows us in.

We didn’t come out

to be “the funny one.”

We learned to make jokes

before we learned to say

“I’m scared.”

Before we said

“I don’t want to die like this.”

We didn’t come out

to argue our humanity

in panel discussions

moderated by someone

who still calls us “lifestyle choices.”

We came out

so we could speak for ourselves.

So we could stop being edited.

We didn’t come out

to be swallowed by trend cycles.

We’re not aesthetics.

We’re not “giving.”

We’re not “main character energy.”

We’re people

with receipts,

and rage, and laundry to do.

We didn’t come out

just to talk about gender.

We came out

so we could feel in it.

Stretch inside it.

Grow out of one skin

and into another

without needing a press release.

We didn’t come out

for pink balloons

and vodka sponsorships.

We came out

for the quiet freedom

of holding hands

without checking who’s watching.

We didn’t come out

to be tolerated.

We came out

to be feared

by systems that tried to erase us,

desired by people who once feared us, and free

in ways that terrify everyone

who still thinks normal is a goal.