With the help of the internet

Lonsbury has always been aware of the LGBTQ+ community all throughout her life. “My parents both have friends that are a part of the community and they’ve known them since before I was born,” she recounts, “so they’ve been there pretty much my whole life. When I was younger, I knew that girls can like girls and boys can like boys, but I never really knew what the words for those were. . . Once I had internet access I got to learn a lot more. When I got on social media, I started following people that are a part of the community more and more and it never occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I was actually a part of the community too.”  

The internet, and more specifically, celebrities and the social media app Instagram, have allowed Lonsbury to find all the missing pieces of herself and finally connect them together. It was a very confusing and, at some points, heart-breaking process as some of those she trusted completely reacted negatively towards the pansexual label she initially identified with. “I’ve known someone in real life who threatened me because I said I was attracted to girls too,” she says somberly. “That person isn’t in my life anymore, thank goodness, but they made me realize that I have to be careful with who I give this information [sexual orientation] to.”