Image:  Wikipedia

Bi Bi Now

A friend of mine here in Seattle flew to Colorado with her husband and daughters to spend Thanksgiving with her husband's family. Her college-aged daughter, "Emily," is out as bisexual to only the immediate family.

And that's still true, despite the hints she dropped over the holiday to extended family.

Emily thought her septum ring, considered part of bisexual culture, might give her away.

It didn't.

When the family members baked cookies, Emily frosted hers into rainbows. Then she decorated a cookie with the colors of the bi flag.

Nothing. 

As far as she knows, anyway. It could be the moment Emily left Colorado, the cousins erupted in a fervor of speculation.

While these hints may seem feeble to some, to me they signal exactly where Emily is in her journey. She only recently came out to her parents. While she likes the idea of being out to the larger family, it's still too scary to say it, so part of her hoped the nose bling and fluorescent icing would do the talking for her.

If at the next family gathering Emily still isn't up to speaking her truth, there's always a less subtle hint she can offer:  a girlfriend.