Personal Narrative: Maturing In Northeast Florida

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Maturing in Northeast Florida, religion substantially impacted my life. I learned everyone was equal and deserved to be treated so. Conversely, I learned only heterosexual relationships were accepted into the Kingdom of God and discrimination toward homosexual individuals was present. As I advanced through my adolescent years, I discovered I was unique from my male peers; I felt attracted to my female and male classmates. With my knowledge of the discrimination and non-existing acceptance of homosexuality, at age fourteen, I faced my greatest challenge. To be a Christian, I felt I must repress my feelings toward males and to not be my true self. Throughout middle school, I strongly struggled internally and externally with my sexuality. Internally,

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