We have normality. I repeat, we have normality. Anything you still can’t cope with is therefore your own problem.

Douglas Adams, from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Recently at dinner with my teenage daughter she said something that I wanted to circle back to but never quite got around to it. She was talking about her bisexuality, and she said something to the effect of figuring out in third grade that saying you like girls isn’t “normal”.

That hurt my heart a little bit. I understand why she said it, and why she felt it — when you go to a private religious elementary school (not a Christian one), people tend to be more closed-minded about alternative lifestyles, and even the slightest hint of non-heteronormativity can cause a child to be ostracized.

She continued to tell me stories about how, in middle school (same school as before; it went up to eighth grade), a girl found out she was bisexual and wanted to move seats away from her because she was afraid my daughter would get a crush on her. Because of course bisexual people want to fall in love with with every person on the planet, since they are open to both men and women, right?

That was five years ago. Now she’s almost an adult, and comfortable with her sexuality, and her current classmates don’t care that she’s bisexual. To them, non-heteronormativity is normal. Straight, gay, bi, trans*, ace, whatever; it doesn’t matter to these kids as long as you’re a decent person and haven’t done one of the other million things that can get you ostracized in high school.

I look forward to the day when non-heteronormativity is normal across all ages, from kids to adults. Of course, the way the US is going, it’s not likely to happen any time soon, but I can hope.