Everyone Has a Story.
It's a simple statement, but it sticks to our brains like glue. Why?
Stories bring us together. They are our shared cultural memory. They are our heritage and inheritance. They prove we are bound together by a common thread of existence.
Stories help us remember. They remind us of what is important. They are our earliest teachers when we first learn to listen, and they are our echoes when we are gone.
Simply put, stories matter. They give context. They help us empathize. They make the unknown approachable, and what was once thought foreign, far more familiar.
There are forces of hatred and opposition to what is construed to be other in society. Rooted in ignorance, they create an aura of powerlessness and invisibility. We are made to feel we do not have the right to be happy. That our sense of self, from who we are to how and who we love, is not just wrong - it is less.
But those of us who identify as LGBTQIA+ are not without power. We stand upon shoulders of those who carved a path forward with unshakeable courage and the indefatigable conviction that they were just as valid to love and be loved as anyone else. Even to love and accept themselves. Now, it is our turn.
Every one of us has a crucible within our experience that defines who we are. From confessions to revelations, rejections and exultations, our lives are tapestries woven from the precious fabric of personal truth. We possess the right to remember and share those experiences with others to ensure that future generations know that not every tear is an evil, and we are equally capable and deserving of joy.
Every one of us has a journey. Every one of us has a story.
I want to put them in a book.