Sunday, May 21, 2017

I'm a PFLAG Long Island Board Member!

Hey all! I know it's been awhile, and I say this every time, so I won't drag on about it. I'll just jump right in.

I was working 50-60 hour 6-day weeks in February and March since my team got a lot of work thrown at them, so needless to say I wasn't really functioning much on my one day off enough to get on here and update. Other than that, Zelda on the Switch has been (understandably so) taking over my life. Side note: it is better than I could have even dreamed.

So here are some updates: As of today, I am the Co Vice President of PFLAG Long Island, we had the board votes today at the monthly meeting and I am absolutely honored to be on the board. Pride month is swiftly approaching and this year it is going to be a whole weekend (June 9-11) in Long Beach with a carnival, a 5K, dinner and drink specials all weekend, and a huge parade on Sunday. Cannot wait to be a part of that, and to have fun on the boardwalk. If anyone needs more info please reach out to me via email (akircheim@gmail.com).

We booked our honeymoon for a week after the wedding, and we're going to COSTA RICA! Very excited as we have never really had a vacation together with just us, and the idea of staying near a volcano hot spring and then an all inclusive resort just sounds glorious.

I've been getting back into working out, slowly, a little bit at a time - and I think it's really done a lot for my mental state. Not that I was depressed or on a down slope - but my self esteem has always been lacking and with the wedding coming up it really helped my motivation to get outside and start moving. It's been over a month so I really hope I stick with it!

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Food for thought: Someone's gender identity and sexuality (more referred to as sexual orientation) are not correlated. I find that this is something that people often don't fully grasp, so let me explain. Gender identity is where someone identifies themselves on the spectrum of gender (yes, there is a spectrum and a variety between what is traditionally thought of as male and female). A person can identify as fully male, mostly male, some male, some female, mostly female, fully female, or anywhere in-between. There are even people who consider themselves both male and female, neither male nor female, or some variation of the two. That being said, their sexual or romantic attraction does not depend on their gender or expression (how they express themselves to others by way of hairstyle, clothing, gait, language, etc). For example, if someone is AFAB (Assigned Female At Birth) and transitions to male, that does not mean that they are transitioning because they are attracted to women and want to be a man for that reason. They could still be attracted to men and identify as a gay male. Just as someone who identifies as female can be attracted to women and consider herself a lesbian. People do not transition to conform to social norms, they are just doing what they need to in order to feel comfortable in their own body.

TLDR: Gender identity is who you go to bed AS, sexuality is who you go to bed WITH.

With all of that in mind, there are people who feel no sexual/romantic attraction (sexual and romantic attraction are different so perhaps that should be explained in another post) or are completely repulsed by any sexual activity as well as many more types of asexuality (if you are interested please check out this website regarding asexuality and it's own spectrum).

As always, I'm available for any questions or clarifications, open discussion, or just someone to vent to. Feel free to reach out, and let me know what else would be good to see on the blog!

Hope to see some people at the Long Beach Long Island Pride Parade on June 11th on the boardwalk!






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