My name is Emiliano Casiano,
and I am gay.
Immediately after the SCOTUS ruling of
marriage equality,
4th street in Austin was insane
and I was just surrounded by
people who had for the first time almost
the exact same feeling of satisfaction
gratitude that I had.
it was funny to see co-workers
who I'd never hang out with,
out having the time of their lives.
It was funny seeing my boss getting wild
it was fun just waiting in line outside
of the clubs but just being across from
one of my best friends whose was
having a hard time that summer.
That I didn't expect to see, and just being there and
looking at her and seeing her smile and
laugh more than I'd ever seen before.
I couldn't describe it
Never in my life has there been
so many periods that
were filled with words, just laughter and
smiles and hugs, it was beautiful.
I remember when I was at a friend's house
we were having a few drinks and we
decided to go over to the 7-eleven that was
cross the street and get some snacks, whatever.
I could see out of my peripheral
there were two guys sitting in the parking lot.
We heard some weird like generic racist line
like, "go back to your country"
or something like that.
That struck as odd
but we just ignored it and kept going,
we went inside.
My friend bought a banana,
And apparently he'd been listening
to them a little bit more than I was.
I walk outside the 7-eleven and
I notice that the two individuals that were
verbally harassing us,
we're actually students.
I had dealt with subtle racism
and casual racism like just little
micro aggressions and prejudices that
seep-through normal conversation or a
heated debate class.
But I never had somebody say
something so ridiculous as
"go back to your own country."
And I just treated it like they were
being assholes for the sake of being assholes.
We just ignored this and kept walking.
They stood up and they
tried to confront us.
We were drinking but we weren't
at their level of drunk.
For whatever reason, the thing that made us really
stop when they call us "faggots"
My friend's straight
he could tell that was like
crossing a line.
Not say that an act of homophobia is worse
than an act of racism, but
it was the first time in their rant,
I don't know what you call it,
that they actually used a slur.
And so my friend
who is has much more
imposing stature than I do,
walked up to them and they
sized him up and
realized that it would be a problem if
they did actually get into a physical
altercation with us.
Finally he just threw the banana at them
and then we walked away.
It was funny
it was a little bit too aggressive
but it was simple
but it was a friend sticking up for me.
In the moment it didn't feel too big,
it didn't feel like we just had been attacked.
I was just completely comforted by
somebody who was willing to stand by me.
They've done it before
they've done it since then.
My friend drunkenly throwing a banana at two
racist homophobes outside a 7-eleven was
a time that I felt loved.
About two years ago,
I went to Chicago to visit a friend of mine.
He decided to introduce me to
some fellow queer, Latino playwrights.
Just hearing their stories and how they
supported each other
I think that was incredibly inspiring.
I've been surrounded by other
queer artists, I've been surrounded by
other a Latin X artists,
but just to see that small
group of writers some of whom were
moderately successful,
had their stuff produced.
Some of whom have never had
anybody outside of that room read it, but
just giving them all of the love and the
attention and advice and the
support that they deserved.
It was really powerful.
I think that the biggest takeaway from all of
this is to stop ignoring the
existence of intersectionality.
Stop talking over your trans friend of color
because you feel like you know how they should feel.
Because you feel like the hate you've
experienced in your life
or the hardship
is equal to or greater than theirs.
I think not only is that obviously divisive,
it's toxic
it's probably the worst thing you can do
is compare our struggles
instead of sharing our experiences and sharing
as much as cliche as it sounds
love
as we possibly can because for some
people all it takes is
a really supportive teacher
to kinda of be a good role
model for you .
And you can go out into the
hallways your high school or
your middle school or
your college and just
be yourself knowing that that one
role model is doing it
so why can't you?
But that's not the same for everybody
for some people that role model doesn't exist.
There are some, believe it or not
of us who are stuck in our
Huffington post bubble or
liberal shield.
We just regurgitate these
thoughts and ideas that are pleasing to us,
even if they're not realistic.
There is a gay kid somewhere
or a young trans individual
somewhere in a remote place.
In one of those states that
you roll your eyes time you hear the
name of, who doesn't know who RuPaul is
isn't allowed to watch Ellen
who isn't reminded every day
via Facebook just how much these last
eight years have been under Obama.
And the reason why I say don't forget
intersectionality is because they're so
many intricate and complicated ways
that somebody's experience can be
changed based on the
color their skin,
based on their class.
No matter how much you put out the
hashtag "it gets better,"
there are people alive right now that
it didn't get better for.
And those are the people that
you should be fighting for right now,
that you shouldn't speak for
or just speak about
those are the people you
should seek out and find and use
whatever ounce of privilege you have,
however miniscule.
Even if it doesn't
feel like it's enough to share,
go out and find the person who has less and
give something to them.
Give them a voice,
give them a chance to talk
maybe a place to stay if you can.
And give them hope.
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