Effortless
Bisexuality no burden for Claire Luber, who seems to take everything in stride.
Usually when a person who isn’t straight comes out to a friend and it doesn’t go well, the “friend” does not accept the concrete, tangible reality that is now out in the open. Closed mindedness, homophobia or insecurity about his own sexuality causes the listener feelings of awkwardness and even condemnation. Claire Luber, a brilliantly incisive 21-year- old junior at UAlbany majoring in Forensic Chemistry, has the opposite problem as a bisexual: hardly anyone takes her sexual orientation seriously. “Since so many drunk college girls make out at parties and sort of glorify it as part of their normal experimentation, people just assume that my sexual orientation is a phase. It bothers me. People must think that I haven’t thought this through.”
Luber speaks about her sexuality with confidence and candor. “Honestly, I wouldn’t choose to be straight if I could. If I did, it would be like admitting that there was a problem with it. Being bisexual is literally no inconvenience on my life at all. Plus, I’m half straight anyway.” She identifies UAlbany as a mostly positive environment for people with varying sexual orientations. “You know, it sure isn’t Providence Town, and I don’t see a lot of straight people jumping on the gay pride community bandwagon, but no one has ever discriminated against me here. I’ve never felt judged by anyone once I got them to believe that I’m actually bisexual.”
Her environment, however, has not always been quite so conducive. “My Dad joked with me about it and was really supportive when I came out to him freshman year. He said it was a total non issue to him. " Claire’s mother’s reaction was markedly more tempered. “It made my mom a little uncomfortable. She said that she would just have to try and understand it, but now we just don’t talk about it very much, and I guess thats fine with me. We still have a great relationship.”
Claire’s high school in Syracuse was not very gay friendly, so it was easy for her to focus on boys in during her teen years and write off her attractions to girls as “just noticing which ones were pretty, like anyone else would.” When her freshman year of college came around, Claire met a girl who sparked a change in the practice of her sexuality. “I made friends with this girl that was bi early on in the semester, and I found out she had a crush on me. I thought she was really hot, but I was so scared to make a move”. Luber cites her inexperience with girls as the source of intense nervousness. “I was so deathly afraid that I would do something wrong that I had to be drunk to get the courage to try and talk to her about it. I’d hooked up with guys before obviously, but this just seemed like a whole different thing. Finally, one night, she walked me home, I’d been drinking, and I just grabbed her and threw her into my dorm room. I went for it, and when I kissed her I almost threw up from how nervous I was. I was shaking, but after I got over the initial shock everything was great.”
Luber’s story is a refreshing one. In wake of the recent crisis at Rutgers, it is good to know that there are college students who are comfortable enough with their sexuality to affirm it openly without fear of condemnation. You won’t come across many individuals with a stronger sense of self than Ms. Luber. When I asked her what she thought of concept of gay pride, Luber replied that “it’s great for people to be comfortable with their sexuality and to be vocal about that if they want to be, but I’m just proud of who I am. I like girls, and I like guys. Just the way it is.” The interview ended there. We sat in silence for a few seconds, neither of us exactly sure what people talk about after discursive sexuality discussions for journalistic purposes. A guy in a UAlbany soccer hoodie walked by and locked his eyes on Claire, who was sporting a pretty short skirt and wore a cream flower in her hair. She flashed him a quick smile and he sheepishly looked away, at least as nervous as Claire was before her first hookup with a girl. She melted him. "He never had a chance, did he? I asked. "Nope," she said, without even looking up from her notebook. Luber had some serious chemistry homework to attend to, as well as a radio show to plan. I’d be proud, too.
Bisexuality no burden for Claire Luber, who seems to take everything in stride.
Usually when a person who isn’t straight comes out to a friend and it doesn’t go well, the “friend” does not accept the concrete, tangible reality that is now out in the open. Closed mindedness, homophobia or insecurity about his own sexuality causes the listener feelings of awkwardness and even condemnation. Claire Luber, a brilliantly incisive 21-year- old junior at UAlbany majoring in Forensic Chemistry, has the opposite problem as a bisexual: hardly anyone takes her sexual orientation seriously. “Since so many drunk college girls make out at parties and sort of glorify it as part of their normal experimentation, people just assume that my sexual orientation is a phase. It bothers me. People must think that I haven’t thought this through.”
Luber speaks about her sexuality with confidence and candor. “Honestly, I wouldn’t choose to be straight if I could. If I did, it would be like admitting that there was a problem with it. Being bisexual is literally no inconvenience on my life at all. Plus, I’m half straight anyway.” She identifies UAlbany as a mostly positive environment for people with varying sexual orientations. “You know, it sure isn’t Providence Town, and I don’t see a lot of straight people jumping on the gay pride community bandwagon, but no one has ever discriminated against me here. I’ve never felt judged by anyone once I got them to believe that I’m actually bisexual.”
Her environment, however, has not always been quite so conducive. “My Dad joked with me about it and was really supportive when I came out to him freshman year. He said it was a total non issue to him. " Claire’s mother’s reaction was markedly more tempered. “It made my mom a little uncomfortable. She said that she would just have to try and understand it, but now we just don’t talk about it very much, and I guess thats fine with me. We still have a great relationship.”
Claire’s high school in Syracuse was not very gay friendly, so it was easy for her to focus on boys in during her teen years and write off her attractions to girls as “just noticing which ones were pretty, like anyone else would.” When her freshman year of college came around, Claire met a girl who sparked a change in the practice of her sexuality. “I made friends with this girl that was bi early on in the semester, and I found out she had a crush on me. I thought she was really hot, but I was so scared to make a move”. Luber cites her inexperience with girls as the source of intense nervousness. “I was so deathly afraid that I would do something wrong that I had to be drunk to get the courage to try and talk to her about it. I’d hooked up with guys before obviously, but this just seemed like a whole different thing. Finally, one night, she walked me home, I’d been drinking, and I just grabbed her and threw her into my dorm room. I went for it, and when I kissed her I almost threw up from how nervous I was. I was shaking, but after I got over the initial shock everything was great.”
Luber’s story is a refreshing one. In wake of the recent crisis at Rutgers, it is good to know that there are college students who are comfortable enough with their sexuality to affirm it openly without fear of condemnation. You won’t come across many individuals with a stronger sense of self than Ms. Luber. When I asked her what she thought of concept of gay pride, Luber replied that “it’s great for people to be comfortable with their sexuality and to be vocal about that if they want to be, but I’m just proud of who I am. I like girls, and I like guys. Just the way it is.” The interview ended there. We sat in silence for a few seconds, neither of us exactly sure what people talk about after discursive sexuality discussions for journalistic purposes. A guy in a UAlbany soccer hoodie walked by and locked his eyes on Claire, who was sporting a pretty short skirt and wore a cream flower in her hair. She flashed him a quick smile and he sheepishly looked away, at least as nervous as Claire was before her first hookup with a girl. She melted him. "He never had a chance, did he? I asked. "Nope," she said, without even looking up from her notebook. Luber had some serious chemistry homework to attend to, as well as a radio show to plan. I’d be proud, too.
I could be wrong and I see it is a quote... but is it not Province Town? Otherwise I like it a lot Danny boy. You get the grade back yet?
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