Accepted by the People I Care About

When Jill Murphy (‘16) was just 10 years old, she realized she was bisexual and thought that it was normal to everyone to like boys and girls, not just the opposite sex. While growing up, Murphy decided to push her sexuality to the side since it wouldn’t be too important until high school and would spend her time reading or playing outside. Once she was at East, she rediscovered her sexuality and became vocal about it her junior year.

Coming out for Murphy was an easy process. She first came out to her friends and parents and all their reactions were positive. She is, however, not coming out to her other family members.

“I haven’t told extended family because I don’t know how they’ll react,” Murphy said.

In July 2015, Murphy and her best friend came out as bisexual to Murphy’s parents together. Her best friend is not out to her parents yet, but she wanted Murphy to be openly bisexual at home.

“I couldn’t [come out] myself,” her friend said. “I knew her parents are very accepting and I know how it feels to stay in.”

Together, Murphy and her friend got together to think of a creative way to help Murphy come out to her parents.

“I wasn’t really ready [to come out], but [we] decided that we were going to bake cupcakes with the bi colors on them and write, ‘We’re bi,’ and say, ‘You are what you eat,’ and take a bite of the cupcake,” Murphy said. “They were like, ‘Okay, cool.’”

After coming out to her closest friends and family members, Murphy didn’t care about what other people thought about her and whether they would accept her or not. In fact, she thinks that a lot of students at East and clubs like the Gay-Straight Alliance are very welcoming.

Murphy said, “I’m accepted by the people that I care about and that’s all that matters.”