Hi.

How’s it goin?

When I told my mom that I was bisexual, I was thirty-eight years old. She rolled her eyes and said, “And?” She didn’t care, not because she didn’t love me, but because she’d been around enough of my friends to make sure her way of saying “I love you shut up,” was heard. It was loud and beautiful.

Not everyone gets that.

Some people get soup, I love when I hear stories of parents making their kids soup when they’ve come out of the closet, but some people don’t get that either. They get hurt, sometimes in awful and violent ways, when they come out of the closet, if you are one of these people, I just want you to know, that I hear you.

No matter where you fall on the LGBTQ2S+NB spectrum, I think you’re pretty awesome. I mean there’s never been anyone like you before, you’re the first, and you’re choosing your path on your terms. Maybe that means coming out to those that matter to you and maybe it means staying where you are for right now, I just want you to know, that if you are who I think you are, you have a place in my world.

I want you to know that you are loved. Maybe and hopefully by the folks closest to you, but certainly to me. You are a revolution, you are a powerful creature, made and designed to change the world. You are not meant to bow to anyone, you are meant to lead great armies that can do great things.

People are convinced that there is only 1 kind of soldier, that soldiers must always carry guns and be prepared to kill on command, but the truth is there are all kinds of soldiers out there, it’s just a matter of deciding which war you want to fight.

I don’t think there’s ever been a more polarized moment in history than right now, we are so convinced that each of us knows exactly how everyone else should live, and never before have we been more loud, in expressing our ideas of how the world should go. But also never have we been more divided.

There are a lot of confusing and yes all consuming ideas of how humanity is supposed to exist. Every one of us is so stuck in our own version of the world, that sometimes we forget to be open to others. Yes, we’re learning that the LGBTQ2S+NB community exists and always has, we know that now, we’re accepting it currently, but it was not always this way.

For centuries our people hid in the shadows, to the point that hiding is and has become a right of passage for those of us who are different.

For those of us who dare to be different, who change the way we look every other day, for those of us who attack the world with our confidence and brilliance is rare, but I am begging you to be one of those people.

I spent a lot of my life making mistakes I wouldn’t have made if I’d had other choices, but we didn’t. Many of us were given sexual violence as a way to grow up, we were taught to be the worst versions of ourselves, but now that we have the chance to finally choose our own path the world has given up on a great many of us.

I don’t know if we have a “responsibility,” to live open for those that came before, but I certainly do feel as if I have the freedoms that I do because women, especially LGBTQ2S+ came before me and were beaten, tortured, raped, and murdered, so that I can walk as freely as I do.

That weight weighs on me, and unfortunately it will eventually weigh on you too. As you come into yourself, as you figure out who you are, who you want to be, and who you could be, outside of other people’s expectations, you will become more radicalized into your ideas.

It happens to all of us, my only piece of advice in that arena is not to get so stuck into your own ideas, that you stop letting anyone else’s ideas alter your perception. Exchange is beautiful when done with others when done in ways that don’t cause harm, and it can be a bonding experience when done with the right people.

Know your circle my loves, and let your circle know you, and if you don’t know who you are yet then feel free to explore that too, never be so afraid of the world that you stop showing the world who you are.

Because whoever you are, the world needs you.

Sending all my love,

Devon J Hall, The Loud Mouth Brown Girl