My Mom Isn't Homophobic?!?

One morning, as my mom walked into my room, I belatedly realized that I had left a copy of Out & Equal at Work: From Closet to Corner Office out on the floor in plain view. Please don't notice, please don't notice, I willed in my mind. But no such luck.

"Hey, what book is this?" She asked. My face started to heat up rapidly and my whole body was flushed with panic. Just one thought went through my head.

I kept my voice calm and indifferent when I replied "Oh, nothing Amma, just something Chyna gave me." Which, technically, was not untrue. Chyna is the simply amazing Advisor of my school's GSA. She's also an inspiring person and great friend, and my mom absolutely adores her. When I ordered the book, Chyna let me use her mailing address. So yes, I guess she did give it to me. Not that that little half-truth was going to get me out of the deep shit I knew I was in...

Why Me? Why Now?

I'll admit, it's not always easy trying to advocate for LGBT rights from deep within the closet. Being vice president of my school's GSA, I constantly put myself out there while holding back just enough, laughing things off, and sometimes having to say no. I keep secrets, and I feel the negative repercussions every day. It's in the confusion I feel when I tell my best friend I'm going to a GSA meeting, but can't tell her why. It's in the way I avoid my mom's gaze when I make up an excuse to go to an GSA lock-in, or when I hide the rainbow ribbons and LGBT books at the back of my shelf or the bottom of my backpack.

And sometimes I have to ask myself - Why me? Why now?

I joined GSA and I started this blog because I couldn't handle my own silence. I felt as if I owed it to the community and to myself to do as much as I could.

The LGBT movement will be the next great civil rights struggle that goes down in history. I am not willing to be someone who holds back in fear, suppressing her beliefs because they are not widely accepted. I am not content to speak only when the moment is opportune and the fight is already won. I am not ashamed of my inner voice, no matter how contested and inconvenient it might be. Someone once said, “Your beliefs don’t make you a better person, your actions do”. If this is true, then what good is a person who will not take action to defend their beliefs?

I will not be silent. I will do what I know needs to be done… and I will hold my head high. We idealize revolutionaries, but when we see them in society, why is our first instinct to quiet them, to reproach them for disrupting the unwritten rules and keeping the norms from feeling too comfortable? The world is changing around us, and this is not the time to afraid. All the disapproving looks and scandalized whispers in the world will not deter me from pursuing my dreams with sincere passion. I believe with all my heart, so I will fight with all my strength.

Why me? Because I simply cannot stand back and watch.

Why now? Because it simply cannot wait.

I am LOVING The New Normal

I can't believe I only came across The New Normal last week!! Welcome to my severe case of "Where have you been all my life?!?"-itis.

The show centers around a gay couple, Bryan and David, who are planning to have a baby. Meanwhile, Goldie is a single mom who moves from Ohio to California with her daughter Shania, and followed by her bigoted, ultra-conservative grandmother. When Goldie decides to become a surrogate, and gets paired up with Brian and David (add a little brilliant humor), a new kind of amazing family is born.

Redefining the Family
This show does an amazing job showing that no matter gay or straight, single or married, related by blood or not, love is what holds a family together.
Or as Shania so eloquently puts it...

The struggles that Bryan and David go through are just what every parent goes through when having their first child. Is it a boy or a girl? What were we hoping for? Who's going to stay at home? How are we going to provide a safe environment? It's personalized a little here and there to show the unique challenges that gay couples face, but the main picture is one of a supporting family trying to bring a new life into the world.