Image by freepik.
(For how i crafted these quotes, see What i changed in survey-takers' responses and What i didn't change.)
Just because we're younger doesn't mean that our lives are easier than yours. There's so much more information out there now, which makes it easier for us to find out who we are. Then we can come out when we're ready, which means that we have to face a lot of hate.
It's alright if we're not out, especially if we're worried about abuse or becoming homeless.
We need you to know that school can be really, really hard for us.
"We are put through the wringer daily. It takes a toll to hear slurs from your classmates and have rude comments from adults and like cat calling when i am literally just holding hands with my girlfriend. I was at a cross country meet for my brother and a whole team shouted crude sexual 'jokes' when we were holding hands at a concession stand. The over-sexualization is constant. And like… strange. You are an adult why do you care what i'm doing in my free time."
"This is a new generation with new generational norms and therefore our experience of queerness and the oppression and perception that it can bring with it is widely different than it was even 5-10 years ago."
"Positivity is important in general. Don't ignore the bad things in the world but seeing positive lgbtq adults is probably the most helpful things for me. Being positive doesn't mean ignoring the bad but it's facing it with determination towards a bright future while acknowledging how far we've already come."
"Aro and ace people DO face oppression from many of the same systems that oppress other queer folk as well as other forms of oppression. It may seem 'new' compared to homosexuality and transness, but it really isn't."
"I don't have the same freedom you do, due to a lot of conservative issues."
"We are still fighting. Sometimes I've heard from LGBTQ adults that they had to exist in a more conservative world than we do today, and there is some merit to that. People recognize our identities now more than then. However, there are still adults who fight against our right to get healthcare, to use a bathroom comfortably, to be out in public, to exist in a world they think they own. We still have problems, and there are both new problems and old problems that are still here."
