I'm a man who likes to put on lipstick, eyeliner, and faux nails. I don't slot in any LGBTQ field, however I name myself a 'queerdo.'

• I’ve at all times hated teams and labels, so I by no means slot in with LGBTQ identities. 
• As somebody who loves to decorate up and put on make-up, I’ve began calling myself a queerdo.
• The time period helps me perceive and categorical my masculine and female sides. 

I am a bald man who typically walks round in a full femme aesthetic: a contact of lipstick, a touch of eyeliner, and faux nails.

I typically see individuals desperately greedy to discover a label for me. I have been requested in golf equipment and bars to cough up my orientation. Generally acquaintances pull out that oh-so-cumbersome and prolonged LGBTQ guidelines, simply to measure the place I fall alongside that ol’ sexual-identity yardstick. 

However the fact is I do not slot in any field. I do not match anyplace on the LGBTQ spectrum, and as a substitute name myself a queerdo.

I’ve at all times been somebody who proudly would not slot in 

I’ve by no means been comfy round teams. There’s one thing a few mass of individuals all doing a factor that sends shivers up my backbone: groupthink, group identification, group guidelines. 

It is awfully off-putting to a shapeshifter like me. I am somebody who would not do nicely adhering to strict costume codes. 

I’ve at all times been this fashion. Rising up, when my friends all listened to a brand new “wonderful” band, I might hearken to the other. If there was hype round a e book or film, I might keep away from it. Name me a skeptic or a insurgent and not using a trigger, however I by no means needed to blindly observe a herd. 

Consequently, individuals typically say to me, “You are such a weirdo.” I’ve at all times taken satisfaction in that. In a really unusual and ideal manner, I knew I might accomplished one thing proper. 

I by no means felt like all of the LGBTQ containers suited my identification, so I made my very own

I began calling myself a queerdo — a queer weirdo — after I was 26. 

I did not wish to be a part of the LGBTQ teams or squeeze myself into any of the containers. Making up and figuring out as a queerdo helped me reclaim my expression.

To me, queerdo means I make my very own guidelines, and so they’re all-encompassing. It takes care of my sexual orientation, my gender expression, my chosen identification, and my artistic way of life. 

You may discover my definition would not explicitly clarify how I determine or who I’m drawn to. As a result of it would not matter. 

Why should I clarify my non-public life? Why ought to anybody learn about my intercourse and sexuality? Why is it essential that another person is aware of who I did or did not sleep with? 

All it’s essential know is that I am a queerdo. 

Being a queerdo has allowed me to have extra enjoyable — and simply be bizarre

As a queerdo I’ve enjoyable with my sexual energy and expression. I get to be each masculine and female. It is nice to be bizarre. 

I take pleasure in experimenting with dazzling and outlandish costumes. Why not boost the on a regular basis with glowing eye shadow or space-dust lipstick?  There ought to at all times be an excuse to jazz up an event with horny trend magic. Life ought to be vibrant, colourful, and artistic, and being a queerdo helps me do exactly that. 

I do know it could sound derogatory — queerdo. However to me, that could not be farther from the reality. 

I benefit from the easy, comedic chaos of my model. Being a queerdo is liberating. It brings curiosity into my expression. It is artistic and playful. I am going to go away the confined stuffy containers to the groupies and get again to the essential work of having fun with my lived expertise. Now, what shall I put on tonight?