More of AU's Queer Love Stories
Art done by sophomore Alexis McMenamin
Curated by Lucas Trevor
A few days ago we published the first of our collection of user-submitted queer love stories. The response was incredible. More submissions and more beautiful stories came in, so we decided to publish them. Once again, we ask that you be respectful of those who chose to submit when reading and sharing. Love is love.
Hancie and Corina
Corina and I met in our Feminist Theory class during my senior year. She was this mysterious and quiet soft butch that sat next to me in class. I so distinctly remember being mesmerized by her jaw line, stud earrings, and of course, her Clarks Desert Boots. I was really just coming into owning my queer identity and Google Desert Boots over and over, not sure if I wanted to date the girl next to me or be her. Corina was a grad student, and beyond her first name I didn't know much about her. So I went to Blackboard, found her last name, and cold-added her on Facebook (we only had one friend in common
Over the next few weeks we slowly began liking each other's posts on Facebook, which led to a follow on Instagram and eventually, making little comments on especially adorable posts. One week, Corina was in charge of leading the class discussion on gender performativity and Judith Butler. I was all over it. After class, she messaged me and thanked me for all my input that day. Without thinking, I asked her to get coffee one day before class. The first coffee led to five more dates including classic AU spots like the Dav, Guapo's,. and of course, Breadsoda.
But five dates later, and nothing had happened, well except for a hug after one of them. One night we decided to go the Board Room where we played a rousing game of "Truth or Dare Jenga." All of a sudden, Corina pocketed her tile as announced, "I don't want to play this game anymore." It was quick, but I respected her wish. When she got up to use the bathroom, I looked at the tile which said, "Kiss the person next to you." Well, that was that, I thought. She didn't want to kiss me. But later that night at the bus stop she said she didn't want the game to be the prompt for our first kiss, she wanted it to be natural.
We ended up kissing for the first time in my Berks apartment that night, and about a week later, began officially dating. Two years later, we're still in love, sharing a one bedroom in Eastern Market, and still make jokes about that game of Jenga.
Anonymous
My girlfriend and I met sophomore year when we ended up on the same dorm floor. All of my friends were friends with her freshman year as well, but I didn't meet her until a year later. We ended up both loving the same video game, and we would stay up until sunrise in the lounge after everyone had left spending time together and talking.
I wasn't sure after almost a year of knowing her of how to tell her I liked her, and she was TERRIBLE at picking up hints. I finally performed a poem at an open mic for her, and the next day officially asked her out. Specifically, got nervous and climbed a tree in high heels and sat liked that while I asked her out. (Shout-out to the tree by the eagle statue near Bender!)
It's been over two and a half years, we have two cats together, and I'm going to ask her to marry me later this year. As a queer/trans person, I never thought I would find someone who would want to be with me, and thought I would have to settle for someone I didn't really love. I'm so excited that I was wrong, and even more excited to spend my life with my best friend.
Sullivan Haine @poolpartygay (twitter & instagram)
My partner and I met on Twitter, in the responses of an Adult Mom concert we were both attending in a couple of months. I recognized them because we both went to AU and had been in an LGBT-themed group chat the previous semester. I followed them, and a week later they followed me back. I messaged them, checking in on what they were up to at AU because the semester was just about to start. It was at that point that they realized they knew me and I wasn't just a ~cool~internet~gay~, and they invited me to a party they were having the following weekend.
They have since told me that they would NEVER have followed me back if they knew I went to American, because it would have been even more intimidating. Anyways... at the party, I got a little sloppy and asked if they might like me. Now we're the they-by couple to beat, and have been dating for seven months!!
Anonymous
For a long time, I thought I was just an ally of the LGBTQ+ community, the kind to correct my neighbors and family when they said something problematic. None of those letters applied to me and I understood my privilege as a cishet female. Everything changed when I came to college, though. During welcome week, I watched and listened as people hooked up with whoever they wanted and had so many great (or in some cases regrettable) sexual experiences. It’s not like I wasn’t going to parties; I would go down to the same clubs as other people and same frats as all my floor friends. Nonetheless, every single night would end with my watching a movie in bed while I cheered on their sex-capades from afar.
The longer this went on in my freshman year, I was getting angrier and angrier at myself for not being someone who hooked up with other people or was ever even interested. It’s not like I didn’t find people attractive or have crushes, I just never cared to become physical with people. The more I recognized this in myself, the more I recognized that the world around us is filled with sex. It’s everywhere - but not just in ads, movies and TV. I felt so small in every conversation in a lounge or in MGC. I couldn’t relate when everyone was sharing hookup stories or people were talking so openly about sex and orgasms because I’d never experienced those things - and never particularly wanted to.
I’ve never had the desire to be sexual, so I haven’t. And that made me so angry at myself. I wasn’t normal. I thought everyone had a sexuality, except for me. Everyone at least wants to have sex, why didn’t I? I spent so long so disappointed in who I was, hoping that it wouldn’t affect any romantic prospects that I’ve never had sex and that might not be something that’s on the table. I was defining myself by the terms of how I thought other people would see me and it was eating me. I felt like this whole piece of who I was supposed to be as a person was missing.
It wasn’t until I was watching Bojack Horseman when I finally learned about asexuality in a “serious” context. The character Todd is exploring his asexuality and for the first time I felt like I might have related to someone's sexuality. I don’t know if I’m ready to label myself as asexual and I don’t know if I ever will be. It’s too scary to add finality to something that I’m honestly not sure about and that I am still learning about. But, I do know that it feels like rather than having a part of me missing, it feels like I’m discovering something new about myself.
I’ve never had the desire to be sexual, so I haven’t. And that’s okay. And every day I fall in love with that idea - and myself - a little more.
Sarah L.
We met through Tinder over the summer in my hometown. After hooking up once, we spent basically every other day with each other. On the Fourth of July, we had sex while fireworks went off. I told my friends that she was the closest I'd ever felt to having a lover before. It is her first relationship since the girl she dated in college for three years. I came to her apartment to nap after work in the summer and woke up in her bed, the sunlight falling over me, and I saw her sitting and knew that I felt something for her. She came out as trans that same summer, and without knowing it, I went to her first party out as herself with her.
I tried my best to be there for her as I could.
I fell in love when she held my face in her hands after we had sex and said "you're wonderful". I went back to college after the summer, trying to convince myself it had just been a fling, but soon every other night we were playing Portal over Skype together. She visited me, and on the last night I cried and cried and cried as I held her, not knowing where we were, or if I'd ever see her again.
After two visits, she took my face in her hands again and said "we will see each other again, I promise". We've known each other for almost a year now, and have been officially dating for about 6 months. It's not much, but it's my first relationship since high school. We find out things about each other, and we love each other so steadfast and easily. We don't argue, and we connect like no other person I've ever met. I admire her so much, she is one of the strongest people I know.
Rugby bfs
We were at a rugby Halloween party two years ago. They were wearing a green onesie that I thought was supposed to be a dinosaur costume but they swore it was a peapod. I had my mullet, a cast on my left wrist, and was dressed as a boyband member. A mutual friend introduced us, and I returned to my friends.
However, after a bit of time the same mutual friend told me that the person I met thought I was cute and wanted to talk to me more. Being the asshole I am, I sauntered over to them with a, “so I heard you thought I was cute?” They of course blushed but somehow forgave me and we spent the rest of the night talking. I can’t tell you how, because I don’t remember, but we eventually ended up on the porch with them holding my very sweaty, cast-covered hand. Talking now, we both wanted to kiss each other but were too scared to make a move so we stood outside talking the entire night, completely oblivious to all the drama and chaos happening outside.
After months of going on dates but not knowing if they were dates, we both went back to our respective hometowns for winter break. After agonizing over the possibility of them turning me down but then seeing all their tumblr vague posts about having a crush, I decided one night to take the plunge and call them at 11pm to ask if they wanted to “go on dates but actually call them dates,” in short, be officially gay together. They said yes, and here we are over two years later, finally playing on the same rugby team each summer.
Julian
I had to leave mid-semester due to a mental health crisis. While I was home and largely alone because all of my friends were at college, I ended up going on the app Her, as it’s one of the few apps that have options for nonbinary people. I ended up meeting my girlfriend on there. What made me so interested in her was when I asked about what she studied, she said that she made dreams come true. I thought that was the silliest, cutest thing ever.
We met up in a coffee shop that makes flower coffee, and we talked for hours. I texted her as soon as I got home that I really liked her and wanted to date (I chickened out in person), and she responded with “wow.” And then she said she was thinking the same thing. We’ve been dating for over a year and a half now. :) (oh, and when she first said she loved me, I didn’t know yet so I said “I think I love you??” But I figured out pretty fast it was love.)
10 Things I Love About You
I tweeted an ISO for five-day housing as I transitioned out of dorm housing and into my summer sublet, desperate for just somewhere to sleep for a few days. I reached out to my Twitter crush (@traskwonk) who not only responded with an affirmative but with a kind of love and care only an old friend could offer. I moved in with six trashbags of stuff from my dorm, a bad attitude, and a deep-seated sadness that came from a sophomore year slump.
Blaine helped me lug everything in their one bedroom apartment and we spent the next five nights talking, drinking sangria from Giant, playing with their cat, and truly falling in love. Blaine defined summer of 2017, a season of internal shifts and identity crises, of Sangria in the Garden and niche-themed house parties, showing me what it means to be a friend and to have unconditional love. I am so beyond grateful to have met him, to always feel loved and listened to — hope I do the same for you. I'll love you forever Blaine!
From gal pals to GAL. PALS.
The minute I saw her in our Business Professionalism class, I knew there was something about her that I was intrigued by. Maybe it was the Tumblr gay energy, or the beanie sweater combo she’s famous for wearing in all seasons, but I could tell there was this organic connection between us. Our first conversation about the way we eat Oreos was a few weeks before the end of the class during a fake networking session, and she told me we couldn’t talk during the actual networking because we weren’t allowed to talk to people we knew and “we were friends on Facebook.” Mind you, we had NEVER before spoken & she had literally friended me the day before, but I left anyway. A few days after, I messaged her about the fact that we both like Paramore and through the power of Hayley Williams, we became very good friends. She saw me through an incredibly rough breakup, and we bonded over our angsty Internet pasts, August Rush, and Gravity by Sara Bareilles.
Fast forward a little bit. After a few dates, we tried to kiss for the first time. Instead, I left her in her apartment lobby with a hand hug and finger guns as I backed out the door. Not one of my best moments, I will admit.
I wasn’t sure about getting into another relationship, and didn’t know if I had the capacity to feel deeply for her. My friend sat me down at our dining room table and basically said I’d be stupid if I let her go because she had never seen someone care for me in such a selfless way. I had to step outside of my Leo summer BS vibe and realize that she was right- I’d be so stupid to let that go. I’m not really known for being patient or indecisive, so the next day I asked her to be my girlfriend and all the feelings I had been suppressing slowly inched forward. This was a bold move because a few days after was her birthday, and not only did I have to figure out a cute girlfriendy birthday plan, but we also had to transition from friends to partners at the same time. Her birthday went well though, and after that the summer flew by, filled with her teaching me how to play drums at Guitar Center, beating (some of) Super Mario Bros, and trading short-sleeved button downs.
It’s almost ten months later and we are close to embarking on another summer together. Sometimes thinking about our future scares me because it’s the first time I’ve felt a sense of permanence about a relationship, but that type of scared feels pretty good. I get to wake up every day astounded at the fact that I have someone who will quite literally finish my sentences, help me transform into a semi patient person, take care of me when I have food poisoning and all is leaving my body, and belt old Demi Lovato in the car with me.
I’ve never met someone so humble, passionate, intelligent, and giving, and every moment I’m with her feels more beautiful than the last. I’m blessed to finally feel confident about my queer identity with a partner who makes me feel proud to announce that. The only unfortunate part is that now I have to admit Kogod gave me something great.
