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Neither me nor my partner have ever really identified as a part of the LGBTQA+ community. We just got together and now we are together. I resonate a lot with David Rose- "love the person, not the wine" but have not yet found community in the larger LGBTQA+ community...

My partner empowers me to be me, all of the parts of myself- the many cran-possibilities

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I definitely feel like I'm still on my journey - despite being raised in the Bay by "liberal" parents I never really felt accepted. Any talk of other people being bi was met by an "ewwwwww!" from my mom, and she always wanted to be way more fem than I am. Despite knowing I'm on the non-binary spectrum, I don't feel I can embrace that part of myself because of the very male and very traditional spaces I operate in. I often don't feel strong enough to be my authentic self, and do a very good job of callibrating myself for what won't make waves in my environment

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I went to Mills College, which is probably one of the gayest schools you will ever attend. At Mills I originally claimed to be an ally by attending the campus LGBTQ+ club Mouthing Off! After being in the club for some time and eventually watching "But I'm a Cheerleader", I realized, no, I am here for a reason.

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Since I didn't have the language that matched my experiences I wasn't able to tell I was queer until middle school. But, looking back, I could definitely tell I was before hand. Language and awareness is empowering. (DO say gay!) This is an anti-DeSantis hate message.

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When I created space for others, accepted and loved all of the contradictions that others struggled through, and worked to create spaces of community compassion and hope, I found a space for myself there, too.

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She's my partner and collaborator. In creating our life together, starting to raise our kids, and making our home, we've embraced growth and change and evolution. The work of becoming ourselves and supporting each other to do that work IS our relationship. It's the best thing.

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I first realized I wasn't straight in my  sophomore French class. I started to have feelings for someone in my class, and quickly realized that they were romantic. I was TERRIFIED. My mom is mormon, and I was raised mormon and was still going to church at that time. Even though I was scared and confused, that first queer relationship taught me a lot about myself and who I really am. I still haven't come out to my mom, and I don't think I ever will unless I end up marrying someone who isn't a man. While this may sound disempowering, I feel empowered through this because I can choose how much someone is let into my life. I've spent a lot of time letting everyone in, and it took a while to realize that I didn't have to.

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I first realized I wasn't straight in my  sophomore French class. I started to have feelings for someone in my class, and quickly realized that they were romantic. I was TERRIFIED. My mom is mormon, and I was raised mormon and was still going to church at that time. Even though I was scared and confused, that first queer relationship taught me a lot about myself and who I really am. I still haven't come out to my mom, and I don't think I ever will unless I end up marrying someone who isn't a man. While this may sound disempowering, I feel empowered through this because I can choose how much someone is let into my life. I've spent a lot of time letting everyone in, and it took a while to realize that I didn't have to.

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I feel empowered when I can just be myself without worrying about modeling traditional masculine gender roles, or focusing modeling my own version of what that would be; built around empathy and vulnerability.

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How I express my gender is non-conforming: how I dress or talk or relate to others, never shaved my legs thus led to the "classic" locker room bullying, where others would call me gay or a lesbian but using those terms as insults, which was the hurtful/harmful part for me.

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One moment that empowered me in my journey to where I am now was my 10th/11th grade English teacher providing me with readings on intersectionality and queer history which allowed me to view myself as a larger whole and as someone whose identities can support each other and not conflict with one another. However that latter lesson did not fully sink in until I was in college and had and gay rabbi which allowed me to see a practical example of coexisting identities beyond the theory I had read.

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Realized I actually wanted to be out as nonbinary while on a 30-day bike tour in massachusetts with my best friend. Empowerment: having only bike tools, limited water, each other to make it to each camp site and having a world where nobody knew me well enough (or not well enough) to judge any part of who I am.

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I feel empowered to be a part of this group! I could not have imagined a space like this growing up in the late 90s/ early 2000s. My identity was considered shameful then, especially in my small agricultural hometown. My marriage wasn’t even federally recognized until a few years ago. What an incredible change!

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1. It means that I can be who I am while reaching my dreams. Which in turn I want to share this feeling to people like myself. We do not have to be limited because of who we are.

2. It empowered me when there are many community outreach in SF and I can be part of them to make change. The only time I felt disempowered when I was finishing my university education (Kinesiology, full of heterosexual buff men) as I was surrounded by people that do not understand my identity.

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It wasn't until I moved to Chicago as a young adult that I found a true community of Queer folks, and that changed my life. It was really empowering to see so many different ways of being modeled to me and encouraging me. A quote from the activist Alok stands out to me as a good illustration: "My existence is not political, it is factual."

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It wasn't until I moved to Chicago as a young adult that I found a true community of Queer folks, and that changed my life. It was really empowering to see so many different ways of being modeled to me and encouraging me. A quote from the activist Alok stands out to me as a good illustration: "My existence is not political, it is factual."