Happy Pride Month from this Watermelon!

Thanks to the folks who have explored their sexual identity beyond the more commonly known ones, I was able to find one then suited me more than cryptosexual! I still like to call myself Swirly (because I’m not straight) and often say my sexual identity is a paragraph and not a single word. But in this case, the term abrosexual fits my Swirly-ness just fine!

Abrosexual means sexually fluid, and the fact that it isn’t fixed or defined works really well for me. Because I often whirl and swirl among different identities. While I can be attracted to any gender, I often feel I kinda sorta maybe mostly am within the Ace spectrum, like demisexual, but not in a typical way. (It’s still hard for me to precisely define my queerness, so yay for Abro’s fluidity!)

As for my romantic identity, I’m highly romantic but also have experienced being nebularomantic, which is a romantic identity for neurodivergent folks where they’re sometimes unsure whether they’re experiencing romantic attraction and platonic attraction. (That really helped me understand a lot of my past decisions too.)

The Nebularomantic Pride flag is a Gradient of three stripes of crimson from dark to a salmon pink. A white stripe, then three stripes of teal from light up dark. — *Nebularomantic Pride flag*

In shorthand, I call myself queer.

But back to abrosexual. I just love the colours of their pride flag! Since they are similar to those of a watermelon, some Abros take on the watermelon as their mascot. I sometimes like to call myself a watermelon. It makes me happy.

The abrosexual flag consists of five stripes: medium green, light green, white, pink, and dark pink — *Abrosexual Pride flag*

(I just happen to love watermelons, so this was a bonus. And like the fruit, i feel I’m “cool and refreshing.”)

ID: I’m wearing a grey V-neck T-shirt with a cartoon of a smiling watermelon slice, and the text on the T-shirt says: Cool and refreshing — *Have Cricut, will T-shirt!*

Whatever your queer identity, I wish you a Happy Pride month! I celebrate you and wish you peace. It’s rough out there and my prayer is that the world becomes a more accepting place for all of us.

Sending love to my rainbow friends!

Cait Gordon is an autistic, disabled, and queer Canadian writer of speculative fiction that celebrates diversity. She is the author of Life in the ’Cosm, The Stealth Lovers, and Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space (2023). Her short stories appear in Alice Unbound: Beyond Wonderland, We Shall Be Monsters, Space Opera Libretti, and Stargazers: Microtales from the Cosmos. Cait also founded the Spoonie Authors Network and joined Talia C. Johnson to co-edit the Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too anthologies, whose authors and protagonists are disabled, d/Deaf, Blind or visually impaired, neurodivergent, Spoonie, and/or they manage mental illness.