LGBT+

Erased

This one is for all my middle-of-the-spectrum people. Whether you're bi, pan, demi, fluid, flexible, or anything else in between gay and straight, you do not deserve to be erased.

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To be erased is to be ignored.

Forgotten, transparent, overlooked.

Maybe acknowledged, but probably not.

Like a footnote in a lengthy nonfiction book.

*

To be erased is to be shrugged off

Like the infinite numbers between 1 and 2,

Sometimes glanced at, but mostly looked past.

"Whoops! I forgot to mention you!"

*

Erased is a bisexual boy

"I was sure you were straight!" His friends will say

When he comes out, and others will laugh:

"Really? I thought for sure you were gay!"

*

He chuckles along, but inside he frowns

Unable to help but wonder why,

Out of all the infinite things one could be,

They only ever guess "straight dude" or "gay guy".

*

Erased is a pansexual girl

Ridiculed for her chosen identity,

Laughed at, sighed at, called confused,

And mocked for her sexuality.

*

She can't fit in and it hurts to try

When the world is pressed into a two-sided coin:

Black or white, up or down, gay or straight????

And she hasn't yet picked a team to join.

*

Erased are the ones without any label

Swaying in the middle, not knowing where to go.

"Choose a side, or face invisibility.

You can only be gay or straight, you know."

*

Unseen and unsure, they travel the spectrum,

Everywhere and nowhere and nothing at all.

"GAY rights, GAY pride, let's celebrate GAY!"

They hear it and shout it, while feeling so small.

*

Because they're on the side of those who roll their eyes

And smirk and say "you're too straight for me!"

And push them over to the other side

Where they laugh and say "you're too gay for me!"

*

To be erased is to be left out,

To be made unimportant and often forgot

A side note shoved into parentheses

Hopefully mentioned, but probably not.