Image by freepik.
(For how i crafted these quotes, see What i changed in survey-takers' responses and What i didn't change.)
Finding community
I'm struggling to figure out my relationship with the queer and trans community.
I'm most comfortable with people who look as queer as I do.
Sometimes I love being loud about being queer. Other times, passing as a cis person is affirming.
"We are all on the same side. Division within the queer community is meaningless and we should all love and accept each other."
"queer kids need a community that they can learn about themselves in, as well as others to learn from. Like anyone else."
Helpful LGBTQA+/SGL adults "are open about their identity. But some of them could be more open about their identity to others besides me."
"We're breaking down gender norms and social barriers at an unprecedented level, and that's a good thing. I know that many adults are proud of our work, and many remember how they fought for these same issues at Stonewall and other protests, but there are also a few LGBTQIA+ adults who believe that queerness is a thing to be accepted, but hidden and made to conform with other social norms, and we're seeing a rejection of that compromise on a wider scale."
"Young people want a space to comfortably be themselves. Rather than try to make the youth more presentable so that they are safer, try to make the environment safer for the youth."
Asking for help
Please, we desperately need you to fight for us.
Speak up with us, not for us. "We need you to elevate our voices."
LGBTQA+/SGL adults affirm and encourage me by "helping with advocacy and policy reform in schools and providing mental health resources."
"we need your support even in our more modern/progressive way of thinking."
"They help me and advocate for me and themselves. The advocacy is a lot more prominent among people who empathize and don't just sympathize."
"We need help and guidance from people like them, since we, as youth, don't get a say in the laws that are prohibiting us from getting affirming care."
"We're the future, and without support, we may not have one."
"We need your full support right now, especially if you're cis, because we are suffering and looking for a community in YOU."
"We need your guidance. This is the first time we've had to live through the hate that you've survived for decades. Show us how to fight back and be strong but also how to be together and protect one another."
"I'm living at a time where trans people are recognized in the DSM-5 and gender dysphoria is moving to being addressed as a medical condition. And therapists are affirming that care, and access to hormones and puberty blockers are at the most critical stage for being able to reach that level of necessary medical care. And adults' support in that fight is vital."
"A lot of the queer adults in my life are incredible activists, and I greatly appreciate their support. They fight for more accessible education for LGBTQIA+ people, installations of more gender-inclusive bathrooms, celebrations of pride events, and more. Knowing that it isn't just my generation fighting and having mentors to guide us is, in my opinion, incredibly important."
"They mentor me and encourage me to get involved in age-appropriate peer support groups. They speak out against legislation targeting trans and queer youth. They live their lives openly and proudly, creating a future that I can see for myself through their example."
"Their support means everything."
