Five years ago, in my first week at college in a new town, a high school friend invited me to drinks. The other students there were talking about the struggle of trying to fit into a heteronormative world as a member of the LGBTQ community.

“What about you, Alice? What do you identify as?” a student asked me.

“Uh… uh, straight, I guess,” I responded, feeling caught in the spotlight.

In my conservative hometown, I’d only met one person who identified as a lesbian. I’d read and heard about homosexuality and bisexuality. But it was only in college that I realized how broad the spectrum is. At the drinks, there were people who identified as pansexual, bisexual, heterosexual and asexual.

Finding myself in a space that welcomed different sexualities allowed me to consider that maybe I wasn’t totally straight, which I’d never given myself a chance to do before.