"Pride" - 6/12/16

A few days ago I was kvetching
An LGBT publication had, once again,
Mislabeled me as 'lesbian musician....'
Why is it so hard, I complained to my
Band within earshot, to use the label
With which I feel most comfortable?
I am bisexual, I don't hide it, every boy
And girlfriend I've ever had since I discovered
This about myself has known and understood
And generally, even embraced this in me
So why is my own LGBT community so afraid of the word?
Do they feel the headline grabs more excluding my
Love for the "opposite sex?" Why the bi-phobia?
These generally innocuous questions
Fell from my lips only a few days past
And now I am thinking of my friends
Who are lost to hatred violence fear
Who've no chance to argue or redefine let alone love
Labels are important and yet in an instant
They are nothing they are blood
Human beings' flowing together
I am ashamed I complained in spite
Of being embraced even if I felt I was not fully
Understood I was accepted and in hindsight
That should be enough
Words are everything on a good day
But why is it only when the unimaginable occurs
That we really know who we are