Amanda Doulos is a digital editor for Love What Matters based in New York City. She will graduate from Binghamton University with a Bachelor of English Literature and Spanish in Spring 2023. She loves staying involved as vice president of the mock trial team and secretary of Spanish Honor Society. In her free time, she loves reading, traveling, and spending time with friends.
“I realized it’s better for my child to have a happy parent than a straight parent.”
“The neighbors notice me stumbling to my refrigerator, chugging from the bottle of wine by the sliver of light that sneaks into the room. They mutter, ‘What a shame.’ They watch me do this three times a night until the bottle is dry.”
“I felt as if my face was about to melt off. ‘Mom, I’m gay and I have a girlfriend. I think I love her.’ She started howling, deep belly laughing.”
“I’d constantly think about Asher getting cancer or being kidnapped. ‘You can’t possibly parent a normal child in a same-sex household.’ I felt like my life was falling apart.”
“He saw me and we both waved to each other. It’s a moment I’ll NEVER forget.”
“I stood standing in the church parking lot, tears pouring from my eyes. ‘I don’t think you’ll let me come back to church.’ I was correct.”
“Sarah got down on one knee after telling me to turn the dessert menu over, which read ‘Will you marry me?’ on the back. I effortlessly said yes. Before Sarah could sit down, I reached into my purse, pulled out a ring, and said, ‘Only if you marry me.'”
“By the time I was 10, I’d been banned from swimming lessons, a children’s club, and multiple play groups. They told my dad to bring me back once I could ‘behave like other girls.’”
“‘You could get hit by a bus just walking out of your house!’ The fears which loom in my mind are hard for others to understand. Restrictions are being eased, but I can’t just ease away MY restrictions.”
“When my mom and siblings were asleep, I shoveled crackers in my mouth in the bathroom. I ate snack cakes on the kitchen floor. Food didn’t care I was depressed and anxious.”
