Today is National Coming Out Day, a day to promote awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans­gen­der people. For anyone who doesn’t already know: I’m bisexual.

I’m married to Emma. That leads people to tacitly assume that I’m straight. Too often, I do little or nothing to challenge that assumption, either from straight people or gay people.

I came out in grad school, a couple of years after leaving Ireland. It was difficult at first, but ultimately rewarding.

I’m married to a woman, but I could have ended up with a male partner, a partner whom I could not legally marry in Washington state. Emma and I married because anything else is second class. This is the root of my passionate in­volve­ment with the Approve 71 campaign. It’s also why I’ve been a leader of BiNet Seattle for more than a decade.

The National Equality March takes place in Washington DC this weekend. Forty years after the Stonewall riots, LGBT people are rallying for equal protection in all matters. This is also the Seattle LGBT Equality Weekend.

There’s a march this afternoon, starting from Volunteer Park at 2pm. I’ll be there. Will you?

PS Let me refer you to Tim Wilson’s Coming Out as Good Cit­i­zen­ship.