FRCC educator shares journey from first-generation college student to proud, Queer, Nonbinary leader
These days, I navigate my life proudly as an out, Queer, Nonbinary educator.
In my professional role, personal relationships, volunteer service, writing and art, I find boundless opportunities to live authentically.
I am proud to be me. I am proud of the vibrant and fulfilling life that I have built, slowly and deliberately, in an atmosphere of rejection, risk, homophobia, erasure and violence against the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Power of Education
This Pride season, I find myself reflecting on the time I spent in college and how the lessons I learned early on pointed me toward the possibility of the life I live today. As the first person in my family to attend college, I soaked up every ounce of universe-expanding knowledge I could along my educational journey.
I read works from queer scholars like bell hooks, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler and Gloria Anzaldúa, who regarded education as a catalyst for self-awareness and social transformation. They introduced me to strategies for building bridges across our differences.
‘I Saw Myself’
I often reflect fondly on the week in my second-year sociology class when my professor lectured about the rich history of gender fluidity in pre-Columbian cultures. I saw myself and my lineage reflected through the mirror of time, and I felt less like an anomaly and more like a proud descendant. Pride, my professor said, is more reclamation than creation, more traditional than novel.
The more I learned, the wider my world split open and the deeper my commitment to becoming an educator grew. The scholars, professors and classmates I met along the way showed me that education is more than a pathway toward economic mobility. Education is a journey toward liberation, empowerment and realizing the enduring power of our stories.
As Trans writer and activist Janet Mock says,
“I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act.”
Paying it Forward
Without learning these lessons early on in my life, I might never have developed the grit to chart my own path toward critical consciousness, a doctorate and a career I love.
More than twenty years later, I show up to work at FRCC each day eager to develop systems and strengthen infrastructures that support student success. I bring my messy, heartbreaking, joyful and enlightening experiences to ensure that traditionally underserved students are at the center of conversations about student success. Each day, I work alongside educators who assume the sacred task of nurturing students’ self-confidence and their belief that knowledge can transform hearts, minds and societies.
More Work to Be Done
As Gloria Anzaldúa writes, “I change myself, I change the world.”
Yet, the perils of rejection, violence and systemic oppression are contemporary realities that Queer and Trans people continue to navigate. To show up proudly when our existence and access to basic human rights are under threat is an act of intense courage.
Each Queer or Trans person who stands in their truth—along their educational journey or in other areas of life—chips away at shame. Pride is not just an opportunity to reflect on how we have progressed as a society; Pride is a chance to acknowledge the work that lies ahead.
Showing up Matters
It has never been easy. The Queer activists and Trans women of color who laid the foundation for the Pride so many of us experience and feel knew it would continue to be difficult. Like Dr. Angela Davis, they knew that liberation is a constant struggle. I will never take for granted the privilege I have to learn from these struggles and to advocate for systemic changes that better serve all students.
Even when it feels difficult, I show up for the Queer and Trans students who attend FRCC and for the young college student I once was—who boldly believed in possibility of this brilliant, prideful life.
To learn more about student clubs and organizations that support LGBTQ+ students at each FRCC campus, click here.
