Queer Joy: The Bright Side of the Rainbow
By Lilith Rengstorf
I started college just over a month ago, and I had a lot of anxiety about finding people and spaces that supported me and my identity as a bisexual queer person. Especially living in Indiana, finding queer spaces is crucial to feeling at home in a new space. I am very lucky to have an LGBTQ+ alliance on my college campus. So far, we’ve only had one social event, just a game night, as a way to get to know other people that joined the club. But even with just one event, I immediately fell in love with the environment.
I’ve already applied to be on the executive board of the club as a freshman representative, because having these spaces for LGBTQ+ students is so important to me. As I watched everyone at the game night, and at the callout meeting a few weeks before, I was struck with how happy everyone seemed. This is why queer spaces are so important. Many of these students aren’t out at home, and don’t have a support system within the community and watching them build these connections is so beautiful. I’m very lucky at my college to have a dedicated space for these groups called the Diversity Center, it’s a comfy room that is just a safe space for anyone who needs it. In today’s environment surrounding LGBTQ+ people, especially youth, having this space where I am supported is so important to me. I see so much negative content in social media and in the news, and even sometimes from my peers, and it gets so overwhelming, but when I am surrounded by people like me, and people in the same community as me, all the negativity just fades away.
This is what I mean when I talk about queer joy. It’s not just an LGBTQ+ person being happy, it’s simply a different feeling. It’s watching someone being able to be themselves for the first time. It’s the light in someone’s eyes when they try on clothes that finally fit their gender identity for the first time. It’s having people there for you that understand everything you are going through and that support you on your journey to find yourself. Even if it’s something as simple as a game night, or a crafting night, having this community is something totally invaluable to the LGBTQ+ community on campus.
When I first came out I never imagined that I would have such a community around me. As I talked about in my first post for this blog, the Indianapolis pride fest was the first time that I truly realized how large the LGBTQ+ community is, and how supportive they are. Pride was a large gathering of strangers, and Alliance here on campus is much smaller, but no less supportive, and if anything, I feel even more supported here. We have this dedicated space, a dedicated faculty member and an amazing executive board, and as I get to know everyone here, I am just in awe of how much this community can do.
About the Author:
Lilith Rengstorf is from Northwest Indiana, and recently graduated from Valpo High School. She will be attending Butler University for Biology in the fall. Lilith uses she/they pronouns and has been publicly out as bisexual for around two years. In their free time Lilith enjoys reading, sewing, and knitting.
