Personal Narrative: Gender And Sexual Orientation Identity

I feel as long as I can remember I knew my gender and sexual orientation identity. My parents dressed me as a little girl and treated me as little girl since I was born. I do remember my mother telling me from time to time that she was sad that I would not allow her to put me in frilly dresses when I was toddler and a child. My parents expected me to act as a female, I did so, and I know I am privileged in the fact that my gender identity is the same as what my family and society expects it to be. Growing up I remember my friends solidify my identity as a female as we would talk about things and do things that in our world were consider predominately girl things. Such as talking about boys, shopping, participating in makeovers, etc. As I got older and saw more of the
world, I understood that participating those types of activities do not determine a person’s gender. That I should not assume a person enjoys certain types of activities just based off of the gender that I believe they are.
I learned by reading stories about the LGBT community and even throughout my college courses that I cannot assume a person’s gender. That their name and the way a person looks does not automatically determine their gender.
By me identifying as the gender that the world would assume I am; as a woman and a straight married woman, I know I am privileged. . I have never had to worry about whether my family was going to accept my relationships with others based on their gender. I never had to worry about whether people were going to hurt me physically because of my relationships. I never had to hear people tell me “well maybe someday you can be married legally to the one you love”. In this country same-sex marriage is legal, however it was not always legal and there is a fear that this right could be taken away. Honestly, it is just sad that there are people out there that are forbidden to express who they are really are or who they really love or have to fear that they will be hurt physically or emotionally because of who they love or who they are really are with how they identify themselves. I personally do not have to worry about that but I have people in my life that I know
have too. Some of my own family members are extremely against LGBT. My own mother has made comments such that those are LGBT need to seek mental professional help, as it is a mental disorder to be LGBT or that it is wrong because her religion says so. When I see my mother make comments such as the one’s above, it is frustrating for me. Not only do I not agree with her comments, I know her biases can hurt others. My mother will occasionally post these biases of the LGBT community on social media sites. It is also frustrating as I feel powerless against my parents and have always been afraid to stand up to them, as somehow I would be disrespecting them. I never took notice of my family’s values, beliefs, and thoughts before leaving for college and being out on my own. I feel my family is very closed-minded, this could because my parents grew up in an environment where being LGBT was wrong. Also, I feel my parents never taken a chance to get to know anyone who is LGBT to potentially become a little more open-minded. I understand as a future counselor, I will have clients that have similar views as of my family and will need to keep myself in check by remembering everyone has different worldviews (Sue & Sue, 2015). My sexual orientation privilege is not something I think about on daily basis or even a regular basis if I am going to be honest. I absolutely take advantage of it and only think about it when I hear when someone discusses the topic around me or I hear about it on the news. This just shows how much I am privilege in this area.