I (21F) have never really understood romantic attraction. For a good majority of my childhood, I had never had crushes on either genders and the one "crush" I did have was more so a label I had assigned to a random dude because I thought I had to have a crush on a boy.

When I got older, I started having talking stages with guys that I'd thought I'd liked (as in we just got along well) but they never went anywhere further than that because the moment it seemed like it could go somewhere and the guy started openly showing he liked me, I would start getting random irrational icks out of nowhere and the idea of talking to the guy would suddenly disgust and irritate me. I genuinely thought this just meant the comphet was getting me and I didn't actually have any attraction to men at all, which kind of made sense at the time because I had never really found any of them physically attractive, I just liked talking to them.

On the other hand, I've always thought women were physically attractive and there were times I was really obsessed with certain girls but never gave it too much thought. I likened this to actually having romantic feelings for them at the time but never acknowledging it until then, so for a moment of time I had considered myself to be a lesbian. The thing was, even though I continued to have these crushes and obsessions with girls, they were all at a very surface level and never grew deeper. I mostly just liked the way they looked and their general vibe (I never actually had a crush on a close friend, it was always unattainable girls I barely knew) which was ironically the complete opposite reason for my male crushes.

So now I'm just confused because I don't know if any of those crushes, male or female, were real anymore. I don't know if I like guys, girls, both, or neither. I can find all of them attractive in their own ways but I've also never liked any one of them enough to want to date them. The only recent turn of events was that I started to find guys physically cute too but same thing happens where I just start to lose all interest the moment they reciprocate. In theory I would really love to date a girl but I've never actually met a girl that I've truly liked for both her looks and her personality before, most of my crushes were just fantasies I made up in my head and projected onto them without truly knowing them.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this before??? And can someone please explain to me what romantic attraction is supposed to feel like because I'm so lost 😭😭😭😭😭 Thank you for reading I would really appreciate all thoughts and any kind of advice because I'm starting to get tired of my loveless life 😭😭😭😭

I am a 26 year old lesbian living in Bangladesh. Being a lesbian is already illegal here. I have never met a queer person in real life or don't know any online community for bangladeshi queer people. Most online places I am in are for international queer people.

So people living in homophobic countries; how to you find your people in real life? Or even online?

For LGBT+ students in Bangladesh, a single accusation can end their time at university. https://allout.lgbt/4z1TAoA

This year, students accused of being gay have had their phones searched, lost their dorm places, been expelled, and been handed over to police. At the University of Dhaka, one student says he was filmed by his own roommate. He was forced out of his dorm the same day, without being allowed to collect his belongings. In most cases, the punishment has come before anyone finishes investigating.

This happens because Bangladesh’s colonial-era law makes same-sex relations a crime, and universities are going further, acting as judges themselves.

But education is a human right, and that includes LGBT+ students. Students and activists in Bangladesh are fighting back, and All Out is standing with them. More than 12,000 people have already asked Bangladesh’s government to step in.

Join them! Sign the petition: https://allout.lgbt/4z1TAoA

I'm a 15-year-old girl and I've been lesbian for as long as I can remember. I live in a really homophobic country with strict Muslim parents, and lately I've been feeling so hopeless. My mom keeps talking about me getting married to a good man, and even though I love her and don't want to disappoint her, it feels so toxic.
Sometimes I almost convince myself to just give up and go along with it, even though I know that's not what I want. And I know I won't end up marrying a man. And I also know that I have to be financially independent and all that before ever thinking of coming out or anything.

I find so much comfort in hearing about other people's coming out stories the good and the bad ones. It makes me feel so much less alone, and it gives me hope that if other people made it through and built a life for themselves, I can too.
If you've ever moved out or came out, I'd really love to hear your story. I desperately want to know how it actually felt when you finally left a homophobic place behind and could just be yourself fully without people constantly up your ass about it.

Also, for anyone who's been to a Pride event, what was it like being surrounded by those huge crowds flooding the streets during Pride month?
How did that feel for the first time?

Any stories or perspective would mean the world right now.