Queer Without Borders

It's only now occurred to me that I have yet to write about my final project, and the places I have gone and beautiful people I have met because of it.

When  I was Queer Peer Services Coordinator at the Ramapo College of New Jersey, I organized what we called Queer 101 Panels for various social issues classes. These panels basically consisted of 3-5 students with some sort of LGBTQ identity that would answer whatever inquiries their audience had. Having served on at least 50 of these panels myself, I  learned rather quickly what kinds of questions non-queer people had for me and my community. I've answered anywhere from "How old were you when you knew you were LGBTQ?" to "How do lesbians have sex?" Upon panel after panel, I realized that everyone had a unique story, and that I never grew tired of hearing them.

I decided to conduct and record my own Queer 101 Panels in South Africa! I began with hotel staff, moved onto queer peer educators at the local LGBTI community center, and finally ended with a group of university students.  I thought I would hear some radically different stories, but in truth all of their stories sounded so familiar. Aside from the obvious difference Apartheid tended to cause such as understandings of race, many of their narratives seemed as though they were slightly different versions of stories I heard many times before.

Their voices seemed to play on repeat. The struggle to identify their own sexuality. The anxiety around coming out to the family. The physical, sexual, and emotional abuse that seems to occur far too often in the LGBTQ community. Their many struggles with religion and spirituality. Their difficulty to find a safe and welcoming space to call home.

Their experiences have touched me deeply, and all I've wanted to do the past couple of days is to find more and more people to tell me their stories. But alas this South African journey is coming to a bittersweet end. What I take with me is that no matter how different a place may seem, we are all inevitably connected through basic human experience. Perhaps this experience is connected even more so when queerness is taken into consideration. Perhaps queerness occurs without borders! I consider everyone I've met a member of my queer community, and I'm so touched to have found a home here in South Africa.  I'm incredibly honored to have been able to meet so many wonderful, courageous people, and I know this journey is only the beginning!

P.S. I am not able to post my final documentary on youtube because of the safety and security of the people I interviewed, but if you are my facebook friend expect to see the final film soon! See everyone in the States!