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6. What’s your favorite thing about being a person of color?
My hair! Lol jk. I love knowing there’s a whole community of people with so many amazing cultural backgrounds and rich colorful histories and knowing that I’m a part of that too.
7. Do you think that QTPOC visibility is important and why?
Definitely. I feel like sometimes people try to sweep the fact that QTPOC exist and have existed for a long time in favor of only showing certain types of MOGAI people instead. Us having visibility 1) let’s others within the community know they’re not alone in their struggles and 2) let’s other people know in general that we exist and that the narrative shown by the media of white MOGAI people is sometimes different than ours.
8. Have you ever had your sexuality, gender and/or race ignored and erased?
Yes all the time.
9. Do you think that the LGBT+ community is too white dominated? And how has that effected your experience with trying to be more active with the community?
Sometimes yes. I always feel like it’s hard to find accurate representation when the societally accepted (using that term loosely) version of the MOGAI community is cis white gay men. Many people have looked at their lives and then looked at mine and said I can’t “really be queer” and therefore I need to get back in my lane. It’s caused me to try harder to be out there myself, as well as try to find my own community within the MOGAI community at this point.
10. What’s your advice to other QTPOC who feel like their voices are being ignored?
Get on social media, start a blog, or a YouTube channel and start broadcasting your voice there. It’ll possibly take a while to be heard but you’ll likely find an online community that can boost you up.