For many, Thanksgiving involves turkey, family and pumpkin pie, but for senior Yareli Hernandez the holiday is also about avoiding arguments.

“My brother and [mom] are always arguing,” she said. “They can do their thing, I’m doing my thing and then I go. I’m not going to deal with it.”

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time for families to come together and celebrate what they are thankful for. While this sounds like a recipe for a peaceful and pleasant evening, sometimes the night consists of more disagreements than gratitude.

“With my family, it’s always the topic of the LGBT community,” Hernandez said. “It always comes up.”

She  feels differently about the subject than some of her family members.

“My mom does not like bisexual people. She’s like, ‘Stick to one side. You can’t have both, that’s disgusting,’’ Hernandez said. “She thinks you can either be gay or you can be straight.,” she said. “My brother thinks the same thing, so he’ll be talking to her and she looks at me and since I haven’t had a relationship ever, she’ll ask me straight up ‘Are you lesbian?’ 

“She won’t ask me if I’m bi because to her that’s like devil’s work,” she said.

Since her family is not aware of her orientation, she finds that the best option is to keep quiet and leave the arguing to her family.

“To get out of the conversation I have to be like ‘No I’m straight.’ That’s just something that’s wired into me at this point,” Hernandez said. “I just automatically respond with ‘I’m straight,’ to get out of it and then I just switch the topic.

 “I have to lean into what they’re saying for the moment even though I know that’s not who I am,” she said. “Then I kind of steer the conversation out the other way