Recently, my daughter turned five. Its been an amazing journey being her parent…she is a joy. As parents we have to do a lot for our children—selfless is the word that comes to mind.
As a parent I find that I spend a great deal of time making spaces safe for my daughter to thrive. My daughter is currently in a period of her life when it is my responsibility, as someone who loves her humanity, to ensure whatever spaces she steps into are welcoming and aware of her needs as an individual with intersectional identities. As adults it is our responsibility to create spaces for children and young people, identities we all once were, to become the best actualized versions of themselves. As adults we should remember the complexities of growing up and the challenges we faced as young humans navigating the spaces created by adults that were supposedly made for us to thrive.
Children and young people are unable to create spaces for themselves—adults have made it that way. We are in a period of history when the spaces that were created for our young people to be safe are under attack.
When we, who have agency in spaces, are able to make those spaces safe for others who must exist in these spaces it is the work we must do–we must be accomplices.
We, adults, must remember what it was like to be a child dependent on the protection of our parents; of the adults making the rules. As a queer community we should understand the need for accomplices who help move our fight forward—as a queer community we must do better at being accomplices to the identities that exist in our intersectional movement.
This moment in our history when LGBTQ+ youth identities are being attacked we must do the work of being supportive adults who understand their experience. As queer adults we must also do that work for adult identities in our community.
Adults created gender constructs; adults created racism. Now that we know better…we must do better.
With pride,
-Densil
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