Queer as Bronco
posted by Law | November 23, 2019 | In News, OpinionWe are comfortable seeing two male athletes smack each other on the butt, but two men holding hands on campus raises eyebrows and tempers. Socially, we excuse the smacking on the butt with the phrase “no homo.” However, there is still distance to cover to arrive at a place of acceptance and mutual respect for same-sex relationships “making their way downtown, walking fast, faces pass and I’m homebound.”
Campus life is comprised of individuals who still believe the ideology that same-gendered loving means you are either not masculine or feminine. That is not the reality.
“I have a love/hate relationship with [the] campus safe zone. People assume if you go to [the] safe zone, you’re gay.
The safe zone is for everyone, a safe place to be who they are,” said Levi Bravo whose preferred pronouns are he/him/his.
“Sexuality doesn’t define you,” said Turkey whose preferred pronouns are he/him/his.
People have a compulsive need connect the dots of everyone else’s story. Nette Moye, whose preferred pronouns are they/them, recalled their arrival at FSU as “emotionally draining, being a part of the spectrum: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual or Allied (LGBTQIA), and going to an HBCU, I didn’t think anyone was going to want to talk to me.”
This generation of LGBTQIA+ community members are more self-aware. Typically, college is the place for self-discovery and exploration. American culture sexualizes contact, as if a simple embrace between members of the same sex is an announcement of sexual orientation.
It is always appropriate to “be authentically you,” said Shelly Davis who identifies pansexual, “I do not conform to the gender norms. I am all pronouns.”
A woman can be her own man, and a man can feel as soft and pink as he likes while still being wholly themselves. Media representations such as FX’s “Pose,” create freedom and dialogue between non-members and members of the LGBTQIA+ community to understand.
A recent rash of transgender killings plagues the community worldwide. The Human Rights Campaign reported in September that there have been 18 transgender killings this year, prompting the American Medical Association to call it an “epidemic,” according to the New York Times.
It takes more than hair, and makeup, and great balance to walk a mile in Miss Marshae Kelly’s heels. It takes strength, courage, and a great amount of self-love.
“I’m just a different type of woman,” said Kelly. “I always feel like I’m under the microscope; it’s mentally draining.” She added, “Even if I’m killed, have the right pronoun in place. Don’t disrespect me after I’m dead. I’m she/her/hers.”
Some people just don’t understand another person living a truth different from their own, so they act out, generally in fear. But when you stop to have a conversation with a Levi, Marshae, Nette, Shelly, or Turkey, you find all the makings of another beautiful human being, simply moving through the world on a path of their choosing.
Imagine that—people choosing, as if all are given certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
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