This Open Letter series features stories written by our own Associates to highlight their experiences within the LGBTQ+ community.
Being queer during pride month brings up a whole array of emotions: happiness, confidence, love, and of course, pride. It took me a long time to feel pride in who I am, and maybe I’m even still trying to fully understand what pride means to me. But as a non-binary queer person, pride is an every day, every month, every year kind of thing.
Growing up in a town of sameness, I felt this overwhelming urge to break out of the sameness I was surrounded by. I didn’t understand it at the time, but that overwhelming urge was my queerness. It was me trying to break out of the bounds of a town that felt entirely rooted in sports, masculinity and normality.
Reaching adolescence was a jarring experience as I was confronted with all of the “woahs” of puberty, on top of this new, seemingly foreign ‘concept’ of sexuality that was both frightening and exciting all at once. I was exposed to LGBTQ+ people in my scouring of the internet in search of something that felt familiar, or something I could relate to. However, I didn’t understand the complex spectrum of gender and sexuality. I figured there were only one of two things I could be: gay or straight.
Being 24 years old now, my knowledge and understanding of gender and sexuality have expanded widely to include a deeper understanding of my own queer identity. Writing this, I feel immense confidence and happiness in saying I know who I am, and I know that I am ever-evolving and growing. In the simplest terms, I am Connor. I am a non-binary queer person, my pronouns are they/them and this June I am Proud to celebrate my freedom and the community that I found along the way.
By Connor Jordan, Rue Staff
