How am I supposed to BE?

I have an issue with the statement 'I am gay' and it isn't the word 'gay.'

Ok, it's a little bit the word 'gay,' but it's mostly the word 'am' and it's relation to 'gay.'

Here's why: I AM not anything other than myself. Why do I have to BE gay? or BE straight? or BE bi?

Why can't I just be myself and that be my identifier?

The world is so focused on labeling people and putting them in little boxes that are clearly defined and then either hating them or loving them based on those labels. We decide to hate entire groups of people just because they fit into some category that society has decided they belong to.

It goes the same for love too. People make lists of attributes that they think their perfect mate should have. S/he should be tall and athletic and smart and funny and kind and charming and have a great smile and be great with kids and want a big family etc etc etc blah blah blah. But those are all just boxes too.

If romantic comedies have taught us anything, it's that you find love when you're unprepared for it and it turns out to be the person you least expected. Why then must we each go through the exercise of needing to discover this over and over again? Do we learn nothing from each other?

People that make such lists are selling themselves short. That list, as long as it may be, is limited to what you can think of. Shouldn't love be more than that? A person limited to a list is basically saying 'this is what I'm worth, and that's it.'

They say love comes from your heart, because that's where you feel it. You feel it in your chest. In your soul. In your entire body. So why limit yourself to what you're brain can come up with?

My list now has one thing on it: Amazing.

Not boy or girl. Not body type. No characteristics. Just amazing, because that's what they will be to me.

I don't want to be loved because I fit a category. I want to be loved for myself, all of myself, and only myself. I am not limiting myself by BEING straight or gay. I AM not my hair, my clothing, my intelligence level, my bank account, or my athletic ability.

I am..... and that is far greater than any list.