AHHHhhhh!! Classes started today! Unlike many students, I could not be more happy...maybe it is true what they say, teachers really do like the misery of the students. But all jokes aside, the new year brings so many new opportunities, friendships, and new experiences. As a First-Year Peer Mentor for the UW-Stevens Point campus, I have worked to help make the transition between high school and college a successful one. It has been exciting to have this job over the past couple years but it has also been a struggle to watch some of the stories unfold. Whether it be the student who had to switch roommates 7 times before he was accepted because he was gay, the young transwoman who had too much going on in her life to stay in school, or the man who has been in a relationship for several years but doesn’t know how to tell his girlfriend he is bisexual. These people and more will fight their way through a journey forced upon them this coming year. As a mentor and as the Gender and Sexuality Outreach Student Liaison, I have also been able to see exciting triumphs as well. Such as my friend who found a passion in LGBTQ+ activism found a “grown up job” that suits his fashion, the boy who was paralyzed in fear to come out to his mother for the past three years was welcomed with open arms, and the girl who is able to realize and explore her gender and come out stronger for it. Over the past couple years I have seen so many of these events transpire and be it the hardships or the victories, I have always been reminded about the power of these stories.
We hear so many stories of big name stars going through their coming out process, Ellen Page, Michael Sam, Sam Smith, but I feel as if this overshadows those stories that are around us and makes it seem as if coming out is somewhere else. Don’t get me wrong, I would love more stars to come out and tell their stories. It only shows the strength of our community when we have more visible leaders in our media; however, recently, I have been thinking about what would have been important for freshman Alex, new to Central WI, to see and hear? I think the number one thing that was running through my head at the time is that I was an outsider in Central WI and there was no one around like me until I reached Madison. Being a senior now, I know that is not true! I would have been shocked at the size of the LGBTQ+ community here in little old Stevens Point. That is what I want for this blog.
I think more than ever we, as a Central WI community and as an LGBTQ+ community, need to hear, celebrate, and empathize with the stories of each other. I hope that this blog can be a place where people can come and learn, grow, know that we are not alone, and share in the delights and the hardships that make up this wonderful community. I want to hear from a diversity of voices, in a diversity of different mediums from people who are gay, lesbian, asexual, skiliosexual, pansexual, bisexual, intersex, transgender, gender non-conforming, what ever the identity maybe (I could go on for days), and, yes, I want to hear from our straight allies as well.
What is your story? What is our story?
Post by~
Alex Purdy
