The New Age Gay People

Once upon a very long time, there were straight men. And then, there were transvestites. 

But soon, society began evolving further and our forefathers began to understand that if you're gay, you can change sex partners but you don't necessarily have to change sex. 

In my time, homosexuality continued to evolve. 

I grew up being familiar with the various sub-categories -- the Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders.

And just when I thought I had seen them all in my life time, I was wrong.

Today, we have the LGBTQIA with the Q to mean queer or questioning, the I for intersex (people born with characteristics of the opposite sex), and finally the A which is short for asexual or allied. 

Carl the dense one is naturally confused with all these abbreviations. 

As at September 18, 2021, Carl still cannot breakdown properly what COVID-19 stands for. 

Also, he cannot tell us what ASEAN actually means (he once thought ASEAN was how Malaysians pronounced Asian). 

And once in a while, Carl still cannot even tell the difference between a real man and a beefy butch. 

Stanley on the other hand can come to terms with all these terms and had even made a mental note to touch base with representatives of all these groups (Stanley sometimes enjoys groups, but that's story for another day). 

In fact, Stanley was the one who gave me a low-down on these evolving terms, being an expert on all things low and down himself. 

People are starting to identify themselves as He / Him / His, or She / Her / Hers and even They / Them / Theirs as a show of support of gender inclusiveness. 

The He and She reference is quite obvious, while the They tag refers to those who may not necessarily identify with one specific sex.

Carl posted a gif of a brain exploding in our group chat.

It didn't take long for me to grasp what each group in the LGBTQIA stands for, and each representation makes sense to me.

Society has come a long way in understanding homosexuality -- from it being a curse and an illness, to it being a lifestyle choice, and finally, accepting it as a fact of life.

But as an over-thinker, what got me very puzzled is the evolution of homosexuality. 

It made me wonder: Have we always had the LGBTQIA groups all along?

Are they emerging because we now have the words, emotional capacity and platforms like social media, to unveil such evolution and make sense of it?

Or, are these new subgroups of homosexuality a product of evolving trends?

Could the western notion of allowing ourselves the freedom to be whom we want to be a result of these subgroups? 

As a pure gay man, I took a long time before I could fully accept that there can be bisexual people around.

Stanley would say that I am a gay man, full stop -- not a pure gay man because there's nothing pure about me. But let's not be distracted.

For the longest time, I have always concluded that bisexuals are simply gay people who are in denial because I apply my own gay mindset to these bisexuals.

I cannot imagine myself emotionally and physically loving a woman the way I would a man, and therefore, in my narrow mind, bisexual people are in denial.

But maturity and wisdom gained over time told me that this might be how the straight community looks at us.

They must have put themselves in our shoes and envisioned themselves bending over to reach for the forbidden fruit with our mouth or our backsides. 

Surely they must have shivered at that thought the way I did, when I thought about the bisexuals. 

And just like that, I told myself that the world is a wondrous place, full of mysteries waiting to be uncovered. 

And it will take a very long time for everyone to come to one common understanding of many things in life, be they sexuality, culture, mindsets, attributes of communities, what have you. 

And so, the first step is for me to acknowledge that there can be many subgroups of sexualities around, and it'd be a bonus if I can fully understand them. 

So whether you choose to sign off as a He / Him / His or a They, it's really up to You, You, You. 

I shared my overthinking with Stanley who shook his head with pity at me.

"Adam, I think your brain is too active -- you should jump start Carl's brain a bit and share the load."

"And just one more point -- I think I may sign off as They some day. That'd be the day when I have someone legitimately and physically attached to me from behind."

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Adam's stories are based on real life events and inspired by real people