Be True

“Everyone is equal”, “You are who you are and don’t let people change that”, “We live in a world of hate but remember that everyone is not the same”. These are all things I heard from teachers and my father growing up. Growing up I knew there was something different about me more than other kids. I was always bullied and put out of large groups because they said I acted “gay”. I never really wanted to come out and tell people my problems because in society people think it’s not right and a “phase” in many young teens. I eventually told my parents and although my dad is cool with it, my mom is still having trouble accepting it.

People genuinely judge me for being such a pro activist for the LGBTQ community and tell me that’s all I care about. One of my favorite things to do is let people know about the community and gain their knowledge on it. No matter what they identify as, anyone can always learn more about the community and I’m willing to help them out. I probably seem obsessed with the community but I can care less what people think. I feel like we should learn more about it because people really don’t understand and seem to judge people in the community without knowing half of the stuff they are going through. People seem to always judge but never know the truth and go based on what they think is right and wrong, it’s barely based on facts. When people used to tell me about people in the LGBTQ community they used to claim that they did it for attention and were going to go to hell. The thought I always had was why people would want to be judged and disrespected just for attention. It doesn't make any sense.

I would always see kids on TV so proud after they come out even after they were disowned and disliked by their family. One of my favorite shows “Glee”, my favorite character Santana got outed by one of the kids she thought was her friend and later that day heard that it was going to be on a commercial on TV. A similar thing happened to me, I got outed in middle school by one of my best friends and it destroyed my world. In Glee Santana being basically forced to come out to her parents who were very accepting, but her grandparent on the other hand disowned her and removed her from her life. When I saw this it made me terrified even though she was happy one of the most important people to her didn’t accept her for who she really is. This helped me become who I am because it taught me that I don’t have to label myself but I also shouldn’t be afraid to be who I am no matter what people think of me.