Not only does the lack of knowledge of who is queer complicate dating for LGBTQ students, but being closeted makes everything much harder. “I think there’s just an added level of anxiety because there’s the normal, it’s your first few relationships and you don’t know what you’re doing,” Ayers said.
There’s just another layer of no one knows what they’re doing,” Ayers said.įurther complicating matters, it’s hard to find a dating pool when some of the students themselves are unsure of their sexuality. “But normally what happens is I’m too much of a chicken, so I don’t do anything.”įor Lizzi Ayers ‘20, she wasn’t sure if her first girlfriend was simply being friendly, or if she had feelings for her. “If I were to ask someone out that I thought was gay but actually wasn’t, I feel like I’d be so so embarrassed,” Vanderlinden said. Furthermore, there’s the fear of asking out someone who is straight. Even with the progress made, many students are still closeted due to stigma, so finding people to date can be difficult. “It’s hard because I don’t want to be that girl, that queer girl that asked a straight girl out.”īefore relationships even start, for queer students, seeking them out is a difficult process. “It’s hard because I obviously I want to date but I don’t know who else is queer, who else is into dating girls,” Lily Vanderlinden ‘21 said. High school is where most people have their first relationship-but the experience of queer students in relationships is far different from their straight peers. One of the most significant milestones in this process of coming of age is falling in love. It is a turning point between child and adult. It’s where we truly mature and find who we are. High school is one of the most important times of our lives.