As an individual of a small community, making a big impact has always been a goal of mine. Knowing that one project or speech could be inspiring others to speak out and make other changes is inspiring to me. That is why I am in my local GSA, or Gender Sexuality Alliance. As a member of the community, I was an integral part in helping change the gender neutral bathrooms, as they didn’t accurately represent what “gender neutral” means. The doors had “women” and “men” which distressed me as well as some individuals who use those bathrooms.

I also began, and currently working on, a project to celebrate Pronouns Day for gender non-conforming people at my school. The goal of this project is to educate others of the use of these pronouns and how to integrate them into normal speech. Every person has pronouns and it celebrates them too! I also hoped that with this project I could destigmatize the use of pronouns and neopronouns. To me, as a 17 year old teenager, knowing that I could make that happen is what drives me to do more for my small town.

While people can be close-minded in my small town, my goal of being in the GSA is to help destigmatize the LGBTQ+ community and to do my absolute best. Hopefully I inspire more young people like myself to continue the work and put their heart and soul into making things better, just like I have. I hope this essay as well makes a difference to its reader, although as short as it is.