The following interview contains a set of questions to educate about the LGBTQ+ community, frequently asked questions and misconceptions people may have due to their upbringing and general education, due to that I asked Gina Rodriguez, a Communication Studies student at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania to help me answer them for you.
- What kind of work do you at your college?
I’m involved in a couple different aspects of work at my college. For starters, I volunteer on campus with our Women’s Resource Center. Essentially what we do there is work towards providing students with necessary resources and increasing awareness within the community of gender-based crimes and violence. The other kind of work I do is activism work. I am the President of the Bloomsburg University Equality Alliance, which is our student-run LGBTQA organization on campus. Through this organization, I do a lot of work within the campus community and the local community as well to fight for LGBTQA rights and get policies in place to protect these students from discrimination.
- Do you think having an informative and supportive LGTBQ+ community at your educative institution makes a difference?
I full-heartedly believe that having an informative and supportive LGBTQA community at my institution makes a difference. For example, before I came to this school, there were no policies to protect students who fall under the Transgender umbrella. There were no policies that stated teachers and the university had to use a student’s preferred name rather than their birth name. There were no gender-neutral bathrooms or housing. Over the course of my work at BU just over the last three years, we have managed to get all of these things now in place and a permanent part of the community. It is required that students have their preferred names on any non-legal documents. There are gender-neutral bathrooms and housing available. Of course, this is not the full extent of our work, but it is a prime example of how having an informative and supportive LGBTQA community has made a difference on our campus.
- What’s the most common misconception you have heard?
The most common misconception I have heard is that the LGBTQA organizations are just for those who identify within the LGBTQA community. While we do provide resources for our LGBTQA+ students and our work centers around bettering campus life for them, we are open to all Bloomsburg University community members. We have resources available for our straight Allies and they are just as equally welcome to all of our events and to utilize our educational resources.
- How do I know if I am LGBTQA+? Do you think it is a gradual process growing up or since early childhood you know?
There is not really a one-and-done answer for this question. From my own work within the community, I have found that for some people, they have known for most to nearly all of their lives that they were LGBTQA. They just either did not have the resources to come out or had not fully accepted their identity yet. For others, they did not know until they were much older, usually around high school age. For some, they do not know until they are later in life. Knowing that you are LGBTQA can be a gradual process. And sometimes it isn’t. I’ve learned that the human experience is much more complex than we can try to understand. And for every single individual, that experience is different. For me, I always knew that I was some type of queer. I just did not have the support or resources when I was younger to fully understand any of it. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I started to understand my sexuality.
- Should I come out? Do you have any personal advice on coming out?
I have always said that the most important part of coming out isn’t to your friends and family, it’s coming out to yourself. I know firsthand that having support from your family and friends can be extremely important for some people, maybe even more than anything else. However, if for whatever reason you do not feel as though you can come out to them just yet, it is important to know that the most important part of being queer is accepting yourself for who you are and loving yourself for who you are. If that means you need to come out to your family and friends, then that is okay. And if that means you don’t need to come out to your family and friends, then that is okay as well.
- What happens if I can’t tell my family? For example, I was raised in a very religious household. Should I keep it to myself or tell someone?
I had a really similar experience. From my personal experience, I would say this: At some point, you are going to get tired of lying. To yourself. To others. And you will want to come out, even if you fully believe the outcome will be negative. Just know that, whether the response is positive or negative, it really does get better. And you will learn to love who you are. And to love who you love. That is the single most important part of being queer. That being said, it comes down to whenever you feel you are ready to come out. I do encourage anyone who thinks it is unsafe to come out to either wait until you are not longer in that unsafe situation, or to get the resources you need to get out right away.
- Can therapies help? Is it a mental disorder?
Therapies can not help someone to ‘stop being gay.’ Gay conversion-related therapies can in fact actually be mentally damaging to a person. It can scar a person. No one should have to be subjected to that.
No sexuality is a mental disorder. A lot of people will say, being queer is a disease. This is just out of ignorance and lack of education. People will always be afraid of what they do not understand. That is human nature. That will never change.
- Why should people be informed about the issues on the LGBTQ+ community?
There is still a lot of ignorance surrounding the LGBTQA community out there. There is still so much violence against the community. The only way to truly improve society’s relationship with the LGBTQA community starts with education. People should know how far we still have to go before we are truly an accepting society.
- What does queer mean? Is there a difference with gender nonconforming?
Yes, there is a difference. Queer itself is a sexuality. For some people, it means they do not fit within any of the specific categories of sexuality. So they identify as queer. For others, it is just a term that they feel more comfortable with and fits them best.
Gender nonconforming, gender fluid, and genderqueer, however, fall under the Transgender umbrella and are gender identities. These terms are generally for those who do not fit within the gender binary and do not identify as strictly male or female. (For more in-depth: Gender non-conforming/gender fluid typically refers to a person who does not identify inherently as strictly male or female, but rather feels more feminine some days and more masculine other days. They may use interchangeable pronouns. Genderqueer on the other hand typically refers to a person who does not either as either male or female. They may use strictly gender neutral pronouns.)
- Would you recommend resources to get more information?
I always encourage people to check out more resources to get more information. For students on campuses, there are LGBTQA-based offices that you can go to for resources. For the general public, there are local and state resources you can check out. Online is always a great resource, as long as you use reliable sources.
- How can I support the LGBTQ+ community if I’m straight?
The most important part of being an ally is remembering to be an active ally. Often, people will think that because they are ‘okay’ with being gay and say they support gay people, that this means they are doing something to help. But that is not true. You have to do more than just say you support a cause. You actually have to be active in supporting that cause. For the LGBTQA community, this means voting for pro-LGBTQA legislation and politicians. This means standing up for members of the community and not being a bystander whenever you see discrimination happening. This means letting people know that you are here for them. And the key part of all of this is to educate yourself. But remember, we as a community do not even know all there is to know. So don’t feel like you are not a good ally if you are still learning. Learning is always good. It is when you have stopped learning that you have given up.
