I know that thinking my romantic prospects were doomed because of a failed relationship at age twenty-four seems melodramatic. Nevertheless, I felt melodramatic. In the Midwest, people tend to settle down earlier than on the coasts, where it’s much more common for people to marry in their thirties, or not marry at all. (The ban on same-sex marriage would not be overturned in Michigan and in the rest of the country until 2015, so it’s not like I could have gotten married anyway, but barring that, I wanted a long-term, marriage-like relationship.) Most of the couples I knew were straight, and
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