Prompt: What do you care about and why?
I came out to my best friend as bisexual the summer before ninth grade. Unlike the countless "coming out" YouTube videos I had watched to prepare myself, I don't really remember the sigh of relief or heart fuzzies of acceptance when she said that it was fine. All I can remember is the dizzying, trembling, gut-wrenching fear of rejection, something that I still feel today from time to time.
This is definitely cliched, but I don't want anyone else to have to feel this way. LGBTQ equality and safety is something I wish somebody had told me freshman year I deserved; either way, I know now that being different is ordinary.
I want to create safe spaces for others who identify as gay or queer and give them more representation in politics and media. I want to become a role model for my past self and kids just like her, somebody who is connected to but not defined by her gender or who she wants to date. I want to show parents that their child isn't a bizarre freak or that they raised their kid wrong, that their child has an unbelievable amount of potential and that even when politicians, celebrities, church leaders, and everyone else tells them they can't succeed, they can and they will.
I still have yet to come out to several of my friends and family, but I know that when the time comes, I’ll be ready because this will always be about more than just myself.