I am not just your lesbian friend!

This drives me crazy! People who think I have changed just because I am gay bug me. This was one of my biggest problems when I started coming out to my friends. One minute I am just me; I am the person they have known and loved for a long time. The next minute I'm gay and for some reason that makes me a completely different person. I had several friends do this to me when I came out to them and unfortunately we are not that great of friends anymore. This makes me sad because I am the same person. Being gay did not change my personality dramatically. If anything, accepting myself made me a happier person. I began to love myself for the first time in my life and I finally had confidence in who I am. The only difference between who I was before I told them and who I am after is that I happen to love women. I am the same person. My personality and identity did not change just because I came out. I am a person who just happens to be gay. This is just another detail in my life. Being gay can be equated to something as small as my job title. I am exactly who I want to be. Being lesbian is my sexual orientation and nothing else. Straight people don't introduce their friends as this is so-and-so, my straight friend. I sure as hell don't introduce my straight friends that way, but for some reason some of my friends insist upon introducing me that way. Do they even consider what awkward position that puts me in when I am meeting someone for the first time? It's like being gay is the only important detail other people need to know about me.