Sofia Sears: Pansexual Student Taking A Gap Year Abroad

“I’ve noticed many adults shaking their heads at our need to ‘complicate’ our own identities… [but] I believe we’ve just found words to articulate identities that have always existed.”

Illustration: Mallory Heyer

Paris, France

Medium: Is there one particular political issue that you’re passionate about?

Sofia Sears: Democracy is not a spectator sport, but much of the current Republican Party’s agenda seems intended to exclude the majority from playing. Accessibility to voting is perhaps the most essential bedrock of a functioning democracy — like President Obama said in his farewell address, we must be “jealous, anxious guardians” of our democracy, but we can only do that when everyone is able to participate. Voter suppression ensures that we the people are not fully represented in the government and is intended to disenfranchise minorities in particular.

What do adults get wrong about your generation?

There’s this idea that my generation is needlessly creating labels we don’t need — in terms of sexuality, gender identity, layers of privilege and oppression. I’ve noticed…