Kemi Lo / Canada
“High school was a bit weird for me. I had my group of friends and I didn’t necessarily have a bad time, but of course I encountered problems, especially the first 2 years.
The problematic people i encountered were usually 1 of the 2:
- people who looked at me and treated me like i was disgusting
- people who didn’t believe me and thought i was making it up
The first is obvious, though the second was a bit surprising. i don’t fit into the typical stereotypes of queer, i’m not super femm, i’m not butch, i’m not edgy or unique or anything like that, i’m just a very bubbly, normal, harmless girl. because i didn’t fit into the stereotype, People accused me of making it up for attention, and i thought, why would anyone make that up? you read on the news of people in my community dying, people committing suicide, people getting murdered, i walk around school and i hear whispers about me everywhere i go, i see people giving me odd and dirty looks, people i’ve never met before. why would anyone want that?
People either hated me or didn’t believe me. it’s funny looking back at it now, I WAS EITHER TOO QUEER OR NOT QUEER ENOUGH.”