“With everything about me from being non-binary to being hispanic or from being lesbian to being possibly mentally ill, I sometimes feel like nobody is going to understand me. It is good to be unique, but I always wonder if everybody is going to treat me the way they would treat somebody else. It has always been a challenging feeling. I know that deep inside I’m glad that I’m myself. I’m glad that there are things about me that are different from many other people. But I do get moments where I wonder, 'What if I could be like everyone else or be someone that people wouldn’t have to think too much about?' But there is also another feeling that comes with that. Way back when there were the Stonewall riots and all the gay liberation movements, a lot of LGBT people back then were starting to say, 'People are calling us queer. Well, we’re going to take that and make it ours because we are different. We are queer. We are the odd ones out and we’re proud of it.' And a lot of that resonates with me. I could never exist like anybody else does. I can only exist in the way that I authentically live. I don’t think I can’t live any other way.”
— Mo Correa (they/them), 18, non-binary, lesbian.
