I was first called a dyke then bull dyke in elementary school. I had no idea what it meant and the boy who was calling me that was hitting my head from his seat on the bus behind me. So I grabbed his backpack and and flipped him over the seat.

All the gay slurs were the most common to use against me. Though I did get called a n- lover a few times as well.

When I was younger I fought back physically and/ or verbally. As I got older I would just question the person on why what they were calling me was a bad thing.

Though I do think my favorite come back for any of the gay slurs when thrown by afab people would be saying: “yeah and trust me, it will never be an issue for you.” While giving them the up and down with a disgusted expression. Seeing the confusion then anger then confusion go across their faces was always amazing. They couldn’t argue with it other wise they would be saying they wanted to be seen as attractive by someone of the same sex.

I’m bad at decisions so I will name a few that stuck with me:

1. In 5th grade I realize that lines are hypothetical and all that really exists are line segments. (My teacher basically said yes, but you’re confusing the class shut up.)
2. There are lies in all truths and truths in all lies. (A mantra I had).
3. The best way to get your way is to let someone else be the leader, act as the compromiser between the most disparate view points by saying you’re adding ideas of both sides, but actually give your positions and lipservice to the others, then finally make it all seem like this was literally everyone else’s idea and not yours. Ex. Working in a group project of 4 people to create a alternate energy model. A wants to make a wind turbine and it needs to be yellow. D wants solar panels made from copper. B just wants to do what’s easiest. So you suggest a crank powered flash light that uses copper wiring, because it captures A’s desire to have a kinetic energy conversion and using the copper wire shows D’s desire to prove the usefulness of copper in alternative energy designs. A and D didn’t say that’s why they wanted the designs, but by making the argument in a good light and attributing it to them it makes them much more likely to go along. I believe my 4th grade teacher saw what I was doing as she had us do a lot of group work because after a while she had me do my own thing.

The LGBTQ+ communities will be amazing!