Charity Planning Meeting - LGBTQIA+ on Library

Dorian Montoir

June 11, 2020 8:14 AM

Charity Planning Meeting - LGBTQIA+ by Dorian Montoir

Dorian sat at the head of one of the tables in the library feeling like a complete and utter fraud, but also as thoroughly ready for what was ahead of him as he could be. He had spent time with Professor Brooding-Hawthorne. Quite a lot of time. But in some ways, less than he had expected. He wanted her knowledge and… and he wanted her confirmation that his ideas were correct, but he hadn’t needed his hand holding through every single step of getting ready for this. Part of this was going to involve talking from the heart, and that made his own fear, his own confusion and his own messed up lack of knowledge part of what this was. And the whole purpose of today was to recruit help. To find out who was on his side and who could help him with the things he didn’t know. There were a lot of those.

His poster had been simple but also incredibly complicated. In terms of the words on it, besides the date, time and meeting location,it had only been a couple of lines:

Sonora Charity Fair
LGBTQIA+ Planning Meeting
Hosted by Dorian Montoir

-Discussing options of charities which support diverse genders and sexualities
- You do not need to be LGBTQIA+ to join; friends/supporters/allies also welcome

Those few lines, however, had taken a lot of working out. That was the main way in which Professor Brooding-Hawthorne had come into play. How do I explain that it’s for… all the types of gay and… everything else people? But that not-gay people can come too? And that had opened up a whole big series of rabbit holes. And that had added how to succinctly explain what all of that meant to anyone who didn't know to his list of phraseology questions because several early poster drafts had read more like essays. He was only the second letter in a very long alphabet… He was not sure how he was supposed to lead or represent them all when he was just getting to grips with the idea of some of them existing. He thumbed his notes. He had given them another quick check through before the meeting. He knew all the letters, and he knew the words they stood for, even if he was still getting his head around some of the concepts involved.

And what do I say to them?

But that had been his to work out. He had had Professor Brooding-Hawthorne check that he wasn’t about to say something totally awful, but he was here, ready to open up and say what he felt, thought and knew, not something she had taught him (and yet, everything she had taught him…).

He smiled and tried to look welcoming as people joined the table, exchanging a few words with them if he could. When it seemed like no more people were coming, he began.

“Hi. So… um, welcome. And thank you for coming. My name is Dorian, and unless you have been living under a rock, you probably know that I’m gay.” He had practised that a few times in the bathroom mirror until it didn’t feel unfamiliar to say it out loud any more. It had only felt unfamiliar though - it had never felt strange. It felt a little surreal now, getting to say it in front of all these people, like it was natural and normal and accepted. So far, it was. Maybe not by everyone, but he had come far enough that he could say it to a table full of people and it only mattered in the ways he wanted to. And that made a part of him want to bawl his eyes out because he wasn’t sure he’d ever reach a point where he wasn’t grateful with every breath for that fact, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to reach that point, because if he did, he would have forgotten something important. But part of him felt so calm. Like this was going to be the kind of thing he routinely did from now on and that it was possible that he’d be okay doing it.

“I feel like… I am only just starting to find out what that means, and some of the ways in which the world can be stacked against me. Some of the ways, I have known about for a very long time,” he added, a shadow passing through his voice as he did so, “Uh, that affect me and also other people who are… different from me, but share some of the same difficulties. I know there are many organisations who campaign for equal rights, or who provide help in many different ways - advice, safe places to go. I do not know very much though…

“So, I think we should start with introductions. This… You do not have to say anything about yourself, other than your name, unless you would like to. You are welcome to. Or to make suggestions for charities. This group should be a safe place. If people say things that you find upsetting, please talk to me afterwards. If I say things you find upsetting, please talk to me, or if this is not comfortable, to Professor Brooding-Hawthorne or another adult. Like I say, I’m still learning about much of this.”

His mouth was absolutely bone dry and there were several places where he wished he could go back and say that in a less hideously clunky way, but he had done it. And now, thank Maugris and Merlin and everyone else, it was someone else’s turn to speak.

13 Dorian Montoir Charity Planning Meeting - LGBTQIA+ 1401 Dorian Montoir 1 5

Josephine Clyde

June 11, 2020 9:24 AM

Does 'gay' equal cool or lame? by Josephine Clyde

She wasn’t sure what she’d expected. The poster had been super simple, but it seemed like something fun and exciting. A fair was kind of like a festival, kind of like a big thing outside with booths that sell things. That was definitely her kind of thing, plus the meeting was in the library and she relished every moment in there. She wasn’t totally sure what LGBTQIA+ meant, but it seemed like they were going to plan something and discuss charities, so maybe it was a meeting for a booth at the fair. Maybe LGBTQIA+ was the name of the club or group in charge of the booth! Besides, she really needed to explore everything Sonora had to offer more and this was a good step in that direction.

There was a large table with a few people already sitting down at it, this was definitely it! As Josie made herself comfortable she looked around at the other people who had gathered, but her eyes lingered on the boy sitting at the head of the table. Older, a Teppenpaw based on his robe colors and apparently the leader of the meeting, maybe even the LGBTQIA+ club. The obvious boy aspect of the leader made her nervous and it really did seem like she was on the younger side of the people gathered, but she’d promised herself to explore more. The Teppenpaw house was supposed to be really nice and they were almost the furthest thing from Pecari. Josie had settled the automatic nervousness when the Teppenpaw leader boy started talking. Dorian, what a nice name, his voice was soothing too and he was…gay? He was lame?

“Dude, that’s so gay!”
“I know right? Super gay.”
"Bro, don’t be so gay."
"Screw you! You’re being gay!"

This was a pretty common conversation her step-brothers had and as far as she could tell if something was gay it was super lame. She’d asked them once, but they just made weird faces at her and big waving hand gestures before finally telling her to just go away. Later that night at dinner she had asked Minnie and her father what it meant at the dinner table and her step-brothers both turned bright red. Her father asked where she’d heard it from and Minnie yelled at Samuel and Daniel after dinner. In the end no one had told her what it meant.

Dorian continued talking and it seemed more and more like a club for unfortunately lame people. There was a club for everything at Sonora! Equal rights, yes, she supposed that made sense. If you were lame you probably were treated differently. Organizations and campaigns? Wow being gay must be a really big deal. It seemed like a good thing. Dorian didn’t look like he was unhappy, but it was so strange! Could these other fellow magical people really think that they were not cool? They were already super cool! They were magical after all. Josie looked around before raising her hand.

“Um, I’m sorry I’m a little lost. But what does ‘being gay’ mean? My step-brothers are always using it as an adjective to describe something not cool. Is that what it means?” Josie looked Dorian in the eye and smiled happily, “Cause I think you’re all very cool! And you definitely shouldn’t listen to someone who’s rude and calls you mean things. Oh and I’m Josie by the way.”

She kept the smile on her face and hoped that it hadn’t been a stupid series of questions. If they were mean then she could just run to the common room and never go exploring again.

44 Josephine Clyde Does 'gay' equal cool or lame? 1477 Josephine Clyde 0 5

Anya Delachene

June 11, 2020 12:35 PM

Cool. Definitely cool. by Anya Delachene

Anya wanted to be part of a charity booth. She didn't have particularly strong feeling on what the charity ought to be, nor did she have any desire to be one of the main organizers, so that left her with watching the bulletin boards for one that someone else was running that looked interesting. The first one she saw was Dorian's, and he was championing a cause she had good reasons to stand beside.

Firstly, her favorite great-uncles, Uncle Dan and Uncle Barry, represented G for her. Secondly, Elly was a T and, though they weren't super close, Elly was definitely in Anya's 'friend' category both as herself and through two mutual friendship lines passing through Jasmine and Freddie. Anyone who both Jasmine and Freddie liked was definitely a good person to count as a friend. Thirdly, there was Uncle Daniel for B, and while she still hadn't forgiven him for making her do math worksheets over the summer, it wasn't his attraction to both men and women that she was holding against him. When he was not being a overbearing Aladren over summer vacation, he could be a pretty cool person.

For herself, she was now thirteen, with zero interest in dating anybody, so she didn't know if that made her an A, or if she was just going to be a late bloomer. Also, while she did firmly identify as a girl, she'd been asked 'why aren't you more girly?' (not quite in those exact words - Mom was a lot of things Anya disliked but tactless wasn't one of them) more than often enough that she felt a great deal of sympathy for the gender fluid crowd.

So Dorian's meeting in the library was the place to be.

She nodded along to Dorian's introduction. She wasn't quite living under a rock enough to have missed that he'd danced with another boy at the Ball last spring, and he was running a charity booth for this particular cause, so his identification as gay came as no real surprise.

What did come as a surprise was Josephine's question. Anya raised her eyebrows and answered for Dorian, "Your step-brothers are homophobic jerks, and are the rude ones," she told the younger girl. "Gay means, generally, liking the same sex people you are, usually male and male, because Lesbian is the specific term for females who like females, but the word 'gay' can be used collectively to refer to both groups at the same time."

Turning more toward everyone instead of just Josie, she added, "I'm Anya, and I'm mostly just an ally right now, for lack of knowing otherwise, since I'm still figuring myself out. But my sister is Jasmine, and if you think she's too pink, you don't want to meet our mother. And I'm very much not a princess. It's been a problem."

"Oh!" she added as an afterthought, just as enough time had passed that somebody else might have been thinking of speaking up, "Speaking of Jasmine, she says she wanted to come and will help out this group, too, but she's got other fair commitments, and couldn't make this meeting."

1 Anya Delachene Cool. Definitely cool. 1453 Anya Delachene 0 5

Dorian Montoir

June 12, 2020 7:45 AM

Yup, we're awesome. by Dorian Montoir

They were off to an interesting start. Dorian supposed he really had missed a step in explaining what this was all about. It wasn’t that long ago that he himself had had no idea about any of it, although he wasn’t sure he’d have dropped himself into a planning meeting for something without knowing what it was for. He wasn’t hurt by Josie’s remarks - he was the last one to judge a person by their brothers, after all - but it did make him wary. He had come to this table with the assumption that everyone who gathered at it had come because they were willing to support the cause - not because they wanted to find out what the cause was.

He was pretty grateful for Anya for speaking up, because he wasn’t sure he’d have managed to explain it so succinctly. She hadn’t explained all the letters, and Dorian wasn’t sure if he ought to but Josie had specifically asked about the term ‘gay’ and also he was woefully underqualified for the rest of them. Case in point, he was not sure how Anya not being a princess was to do with any of this. He supposed he’d been a ‘girly boy’ and that caused him issues. Maybe it was the same issue in reverse? He wasn’t really sure which letter it lined up with though. Probably the gender ones. The gender ones were still confusing him… He supported them. He would welcome them. He just didn’t want to be tasked with explaining them.

“That is good to know,” he smiled, regarding Jasmine. The two of them really didn’t move in the same circles in spite of being yearmates. In spite of that, he knew enough about her to know that she dreamed of having a handsome prince. Which he guessed meant they at least had something in common, but he hadn’t expected her to exactly go out of her way to care about what happened to someone like him. And every person who was on his side felt like a victory.

“Yes, perhaps I should have explained more… If it helps, I did not really know about any of this until I realised I was it,” he added sympathetically, not wanting Josie to feel embarrassed. “Those are maybe some of the issues… Not every family likes to talk about these kinds of things, and that can leave people feeling scared and alone when they’re trying to work out their feelings. And it’s a thing that other children can be cruel about.

“As Anya said… Each of the letters stands for something to do with who people are attracted to or how they identify. I… I am not very good at explaining all of them, but I have some definitions in my notebook,” he made a couple of copies, passing one to Josie and pushing a couple towards other parts of the table in case anyone else wanted to read up.

“As I said… lack of information and bullying are some of the issues that charities might address. Along with providing safe places for people who… who aren’t getting on with their families, or who are experiencing violence because of this,” he stated. He didn’t manage to keep his voice totally neutral as he said that, in a way that he rather suspected was incredibly telling. “There’s also civil rights - things like being allowed to get married. It’s not the same everywhere in the world…

“Anyway, we can continue with introductions?” he suggested. “And questions are also welcome if people have them.”

13 Dorian Montoir Yup, we're awesome. 1401 0 5

Freddie Zauberhexen

June 12, 2020 6:21 PM

I think I'm a Q? by Freddie Zauberhexen

Freddie was late. He was usually late and this might not have been so unusual. In fact, he was probably the only one who would have known that he wasn't just late because he was Freddie, but because he had spent so much time trying to decide whether he really wanted to do this. Or perhaps, decide whether he wanted other people to know he really wanted to do this. There was no doubt in his mind that this was a cause he cared about, but he hadn't yet apologised to Hana - he wasn't yet sure if he wanted to - and it was hard to say exactly how much worse this was going to make everything. Of course, this was also open to Allies, which meant that nobody would know he was si-- different (not sick).

Either way, he was late. When he got there, he found that Anya was there, which was nice. And Josie was there. He didn't know her well but he knew who she was because they had had classes together the year before. And Jean-Loup's boyfriend was there. And now Freddie was there.

He took a seat near Anya, smiling at her as he did so and hoping his cheeks weren't on fire. As he turned his attention to what the group was actually saying, he found that he was being talked about. Well, not exactly, but basically. This was a charity to help people like him? People who didn't get along with their families because of this stuff? Freddie wasn't exactly sure whether he counted as any of this stuff, but it seemed possible if nothing else. But still.

When there was a moment's pause, Freddie raised his hand to get attention and began speaking at the same time. "Entschuldige," he said. "How can money do helping for die Familien oder people getting married?"

22 Freddie Zauberhexen I think I'm a Q? 1452 Freddie Zauberhexen 0 5

Josephine Clyde

June 17, 2020 2:25 AM

So much to learn! by Josephine Clyde

Josie took in Anya’s words and chewed on them in her brain. So it was rude to call someone gay the way they had. Homophobe was another unfamiliar word for her, but she knew ‘phobe’ was to be afraid of something and ‘homo’ meant one. It was probably the fear of gay people and gay people were boys who liked other boys. And, according to Anya, lesbians were girls who liked girls and the word gay could be used to describe both of them. If that was what the ‘L’ and ‘G’ stood for then there must be a whole wealth of other terms in the rest of the name! Food for thought indeed. Learning new things always interested her and this was definitely no exception. It was something she didn’t know anything about. In her family there had never been the possibility of even talking about a relationship that wasn’t a man and woman. She’d had her mother and her father and then there was Minnie. Even her step-brothers talked about girls they had crushes on at school, kind of. Speaking of them she was going to have a talk with Samuel and Daniel when she got back about using the word ‘gay’ as an insult. Sure they were always pretty mean, but there was no reason to be rude too. So what if a boy liked another boy and a girl liked another girl? Love was love in Josie’s eyes.

Being an ally must be the same things as being a friend and she wanted to be a friend for the LGBTQIA+ group. Learning and friends were two things that she could definitely get behind. She eagerly took the paper Dorian handed to her. Reading! That was something she knew plenty about. It seemed to be a list of definitions for each of the letters in the group’s name. Super helpful! She wasn’t completely sure what transsexual, queer, intersex and asexual meant, but, she glanced back at Dorian and Anya, the group seemed nice enough and willing to answer her questions. Someone else, a blonde third year, sat near Anya and asked a question. She vaguely remembered him in some of her classes last year and, after realizing she hadn’t seen him in any classes this term, deduced he was most likely a third year. The German accent that wrapped around some of his words surprised her. Sometimes Theo could talk in a British accent and she’d met Heinrich at the Opening Feast, so foreigners weren’t a huge surprise to her. Minnie was actually British, so they definitely didn’t surprise her, but it was different for some reason to think that there were foreigners around her age. Josie wasn’t totally sure what he meant by the ‘family’ and ‘getting married’ part, but she latched onto the word ‘money’. That’s right; this was a meeting for a booth at the fair. Her brain had been so distracted by all the learning that it had forgotten why they’d come in the first place.

Fundraising! It wasn’t something she was fantastic at, but thanks to the years of bake sales she was definitely more familiar with it. Hey! Maybe they could do a bake sale? Or make small trinkets to sell like bracelets or keychains? Neither option was too terrible, but she’d have to ask the group about it. She liked to bake, but she didn’t want to be the only doing it.

“I don’t know what the answer to that question is, but is there a limit to what we can sell to raise money? Can it be a bake sale or small things like pins, bracelets and more or does it need to be very strict?”

44 Josephine Clyde So much to learn! 1477 0 5

Ness McLeod

July 04, 2020 4:09 AM

I guess I'm a + by Ness McLeod

Ness was pretty hyped for the fact that Dorian was running a queer charity booth. That was a cause that the Aladren definitely wanted to get behind - or perhaps in front of. Ness wasn’t sure that having two booths for similar organisations would get signed off - they’d probably be told to work together, and Ness didn’t necessarily want to steal traffic from Dorian anyway because being the openly gay Pureblood(ish kinda right?) head boy was a bomb-ass move on his part and all kinds of power to him. But Dorian was looking for suggestions, so there was no saying this couldn’t become a McLeod fundraiser, and if it didn’t, Ness could always try for a separate booth.

The meeting got off to a waaaay rocky start with some girl not even knowing what gay was, other than an insult. Yikes. And clearly it wasn’t just an age thing cos Anya knew better. Ness gave the Quidditch team’s better Seeker a grin of support rather than rolling eyes at Josie, especially as Dorian revealed he hadn’t known anything about it growing up. Which… Like, in theory Ness knew. Pureblood repression was a Whole Big Thing. But like… it was still weird, thinking about people literally finding out by experiencing this. They had to promote their leaflets better.

“Those seem like pretty standard suggestions, don’t see why they wouldn’t be allowed,” Ness nodded to Josie, when she asked about bake sales and pins. There had been another question which Ness more than qualified to answer, which was how money helped.

“As for how it helps,” Ness addressed the boy, aiming to slow down and simplify, though a non-native speaker’s perception of whether that was happening might have been very different to Ness’ own, “It helps to educate people. So, people know that different genders and sexualities exist. That can involve sharing leaflets or giving talks in schools. That can help families, because if everyone knows more about things, people tend to be more open minded. You can also offer family counselling if people really aren’t getting along.

“As for getting married and civil rights stuff, that requires campaigning. You need people who are experts on the law to offer advice and comment on changes, and you need to try to get more people on your side by having protests or signing petitions to show the government that people support changes.

“Doing any of those things costs money - organisations that are dedicated to providing services like shelter, therapy, school education or campaigning for law changes all need money to be able to do those things.

“My family actually runs a charity like that. It focuses a little bit of energy on all those things. Mostly, it provides emergency shelter for people who just can’t live with their families any more, and helps them sort those problems out. They also do some schools education stuff. You might have seen McLeod Foundation posters and leaflets here in the library?” Ness suggested, though it seemed like if they had, the message hadn’t sunk in. "Oh, I'm Ness," Ness added, "And I don't feel the need to have a label to be seen as queer," the Aladren shrugged. Okay, 'queer' could be a label in itself but it was sort of the anti-label label. Or could be. It could also be a very definite label. It was Shroedinger's label. And that suited Ness.

Though not in the sense that Ness was both queer and unqueer unless directly observed. Just in the sense of being labelled as such.

13 Ness McLeod I guess I'm a + 1419 Ness McLeod 0 5

Ellie Alperton

July 04, 2020 4:50 AM

T checking in by Ellie Alperton

Ellie took a seat at the LGBTQIA+ table, feeling a little nervous but mostly good. She did not tend towards drawing lots of attention towards herself, and this was bound to do so. It would do so just by virtue of being here, which people might well read into, and it would do so if she found the atmosphere uncomfortable and decided to leave. Possibly with the awkward result of making people here think she didn’t support their cause. She hoped she would, but the LGBTQIA+ community, for all it kept adding letters, had not always been super good at handling the four it had started out with.

Still, she felt optimistic. It was good to be in a school that had elected an openly gay student to a position of authority, and where this kind of booth was an option for a charity day. She hoped any self-identification would be optional, although she wasn’t sure what she would say if it was. She did not want to feel like she was being forced to out herself but if she was offered the option… Maybe? School was comfortable and safe, and that was good. She got to be herself, and she had thought that was all she had ever wanted. She supposed it still was - but part of who she was was that she was trans, and it felt like it would be more comfortable if more people knew that, so long as it didn’t change the feeling safe part.

The table started filling up, and several people she was really glad to see were there too. She gave Anya and Freddie big smiles, wondering what their reasons for being here were. It would be funny if they’d all been keeping similar information about themselves quiet. She was pretty sure she’d tell them after this, even if she didn’t get to say it to the rest of the group.

Then Josie asked what ‘gay’ meant and whether it was bad.

Ellie felt her confidence shrinking back inside herself even as everyone else did a great job of defending and educating. The news that Jasmine would be supporting them also lifted her spirits back up a little but there was no way she was going to get too personal about this subject with someone like Josie sitting at the table. Josie seemed interested in trying but Ellie didn’t want to be the target of her uneducated questions. Freddie’s question also indicated he didn’t know much about this, and she wondered whether he found it all as strange as Josie did, even if he wasn’t saying anything hurtful.

Ellie took a few moments to compose herself whilst Ness talked. She had indeed noticed the McLeod posters and the McLeod surname attached to this person. She meant to talk to the Foundation at some point. They were probably a good thing to support…

“Sometimes people need medicine too,” she added to Ness’ comments, “None of these things is an illness,” she stated more firmly, “But some people need to change their body, because the one they’re in isn’t right for how they feel inside,” she explained trying to put it into simple enough terms for it to be clear but without resorting to any of the language she disliked. She was not ‘a girl born into a boy’s body.’ She was a girl. She currently had this body. It wasn’t a great fit but it was still hers. It just wasn’t the same as other girls’ and- she tried not to think about that too much right now. “So, accessing medicine can be hard. But also, scientists need to research to make medicine better.

“I mostly know about non-magical charities. There’s one called Mermaids. It provides social opportunities for kids who are transgender,” she stated. Now she had started, she wanted to share. Not herself, necessarily, but she knew a lot, a lot of facts and she didn’t want those facts to get ignored or overlooked. “Whilst most people figure out who they’re attracted to during their teens, because it’s related to hormones, most transgender people realise it when they’re really young because they just know their body isn’t right for them. It can be nice to have a place to go where you can put on clothes that feel like you and be called a name that feels like your name,” she stated, her fingers twisting the pale pink, pale blue and white friendship bands on her wrist. She was pretty sure that was an obvious sign post to anyone who knew to look for it. She was pretty sure it was ‘suspicious’ that she knew so much about these things. She was totally sure Anya and Jasmine were going to stand between her and anyone she didn’t want to explain herself to.

“There’s also things like the Trevor Project. That’s…. A phoneline?” she questioned, knowing that was going to receive some blank looks, “It’s like… a way to talk to someone you don’t know. They have trained volunteers, so if you’re worried about something to do with your gender or sexuality, you can call and talk to someone who you know is going to be nice and not say judgemental things, because it can be really scary and lonely being different.

“I’m not saying we should support a non-magical charity,” she added hastily, “Just… some of the things I know people raise money for. So you can understand,” she added, looking particularly at Freddie and really hoping that it seemed like he did.

13 Ellie Alperton T checking in 1456 0 5

Freddie Zauberhexen

July 04, 2020 10:12 PM

Am I not a Q? Am I + or T? Or do my ?s mean I'm a Q still? by Freddie Zauberhexen

This was not an illness. None of this was an illness. But sometimes people needed medicine. So far, Freddie mostly understood. It was nice to think of being able to use something as simple as money to help people, even if it was really sad that people needed help like that. When Ellie said something about putting on clothes that made you feel like you, he tried to backtrack and hold on to the word she'd used. It started with a T, so he thought maybe he could hold on to that and clarify it later. Maybe it was part of the LBTQ... something something part.

He nodded to show he understood and then when everyone but Ellie was focusing not on him, he mouthed thank you at her. It made such a big difference to him to be forgiven for not knowing stuff. It also made him wonder at an idea that he wasn't sure he should bring up because it made him think that people would laugh at him. He wasn't sure they would, but he couldn't be sure they wouldn't. But if this was for people who needed help, and even people who knew stuff - like Ellie - were nervous, then maybe it was okay to try to be a little brave. She really did seem nervous . . . why did she seem nervous?

"Can we be doing a small . . . uh . . . people give money and they watch people . . . uh . . . " What was the word for 'show'? "Like we dress up and make smile. Do pretend or do dance?"

22 Freddie Zauberhexen Am I not a Q? Am I + or T? Or do my ?s mean I'm a Q still? 1452 0 5

Josephine Clyde

July 07, 2020 1:16 AM

I'm an Ally now and forever by Josephine Clyde

Baking was okay! Josie bounced a little in her seat with excitement. This would be fun and charitable, the best of both worlds. The other students seemed nice enough, they’d answered her questions with varying levels of kindness, and maybe they’d want to bake too.

“I can make something for the booth if that’s okay with you guys? I’d love help. Baking is so much more fun when you do it with other people.”

She’d have to wait to see if anyone would be willing to help, Josie got the impression that they were confused about why she was at the meeting. Sure she had no idea about any of this, it was a literal whole new world for her, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t want to help! But as she listened to other people speak up and add more and more information she felt a little concerned. Laws? Protests? Petitions? Medicine?

LGBTQIA+ people couldn’t get married? Why not? It was just marriage. If Minnie could remarry her father then why couldn’t other people? It was against the law? But why? Josie wondered if the people at the table could see the sadness behind the confusion. It made no sense to her that people couldn’t get married just because they liked someone with the same gender. How terribly sad. What was the big deal? So what if there were gay and lesbian people? They were still people weren’t they? Wasn’t it a basic human right to get married? She couldn’t imagine being denied something so…so fundamental. Alright, that settled it, Josie was now an ally no ifs ands or buts about it. It wasn’t right that some people were treated different because they were, well, different. Thought not quite to this scale she did know a thing or two about being treated differently just because of what other people thought.

She nodded her head as other people spoke up. There was a lot to do and a lot to learn and so little time to do it! Josie glanced at the student in charge. Dorian. He was probably the best source of information, but…but he was a he, though the seventh year did seem very nice. Hmmmm. Nope! Josie looked at Ness and the other Aladren girl. She had fellow Aladrens who also happened to be girls. She’d ask them for more information first and then, and only then, would she ask Dorian. Besides, hadn’t Ness said something about her family running a similar charity? She was probably the perfect person to ask! Josie just needed to see if the older girl was free afterwards.

44 Josephine Clyde I'm an Ally now and forever 1477 0 5

Evelyn Stones

July 07, 2020 10:27 PM

I'm . . . present. by Evelyn Stones

CW: Reference to trauma (vague)

Evelyn was quiet. For one, she was tired. For two, she felt very very much like she didn't belong. Ness was under this umbrella. Dorian was under this umbrella. Evelyn wasn't really sure about the other folk in the room, but she assumed that some of them were one letter or another, even if it was a questioning letter. Was that what Evelyn was?

She'd spent a lot of time thinking about this subject over the past year or so. When she'd met Ness, she had asked whether Ness would rather be a girlfriend, boyfriend, or something else, and Ness had said 'something else'. That was the sort of confidence that Evelyn wanted for herself. Since then, she'd learned a lot, and she was pretty sure that what she'd learned about 'bi' meant that that was an okay word for her (although she wasn't about to introduce herself as a B), but now she wasn't sure.

She really really liked Heinrich a lot, and she thought some thoughts about him sometimes that made her very confident she didn't just like him like a friend, unless friends did stuff that she wasn't aware they did sometimes. There was also definitely a time that she thought she maybe liked Ness, so it wasn't just boys that Evelyn liked. She also had absolutely noticed Cleo and some of the other girls at Sonora, or around town in Oregon. So far, there didn't really seem to be anything that she didn't like. She'd tried to sort it out, but as far as she could tell, everyone was attractive in some way or another.

The fact that she had some weird home stuff to sort out in terms of being with people. She'd seen descriptions of PTSD on some of the stuff at the McLeod foundation, and she'd read about trauma and abuse of various kinds, and while it was hard to identify with those things herself, she couldn't help acknowledging that they were, to some extent, descriptive of her experience.

Which made her feel like she didn't belong here. What if she only thought that maybe she liked girls because they made her less jumpy than boys did? But that didn't make sense because she really did like Heinrich and she really did sometimes wonder what it would be like to be closer to him sometime. And did she like Ness because of any masculine or feminine traits, or was it a unique brand of Nessness (heheh) that made her best friend stand out? Maybe it was just because they were so close.

Introductions had devolved into a conversation and Evelyn was perfectly happy to let it go on that way until she had something to say. So when Josie suggested baked goods, Evelyn tentatively raised her hand. Normally, stage fright was not an issue for the thoroughbred Pecari, but that seemed to be faltering at the moment.

"First, hi, I'm Evelyn," she said with a soft smile. Dorian had always been nice to her and the fact that they were all here because of their support for queer communities made Evelyn feel very safe and very unsafe all at once, so it was a smile, but it was a small one. "I think that there are absolutely no causes that can't be supported by baked goods," she said to Josie. "Especially brownies," she added with a grin. Then, after a steadying breath and a moment's contemplation, she continued. "I like your other ideas, too. I wonder if we could sell beaded bracelets with different pride flag colors, or small pride flags or pins or something to go on book bags and things," she said. "I think . . . well, it made a big difference to me to learn more about LGBTQ identities and I think that that sort of representation around campus could make a difference for students. Help people know who's on their 'team' so to speak and help students find small ways to be brave together." Which was ironic, as Evelyn did not feel brave at all just then, and she looked to Ness for support. She wanted to reach out and take her friend's hand, but she wasn't sure if that would give the wrong idea in this group and she had become more conscious of whether or not she was accidentally stamping out Ness' dating pool by being too affectionate.

22 Evelyn Stones I'm . . . present. 1422 0 5

Jasmine Delachene

July 08, 2020 11:36 AM

Yes! Me, too! Sorry, I'm late! by Jasmine Delachene

Jasmine was willing to admit that she had maybe, just possibly, bitten off a little bit more than she could chew. She wanted to be involved in three charity booths, and they were all starting up and figuring themselves out, and she could really only be in one place at a time. The other two organizers were her friends whereas Dorian wasn't as close, so while she wanted to be on time for this group, she'd also promised to help with clean-up with the other group, and it meant she didn't reach the library until a few minutes after the meeting had begun.

She didn't think she was going to drop anything though. She wouldn't leave Peyton or Ruby in the lurch, and LGBTQ+ was important to the people she knew. She'd just have to try harder to make sure the meeting times she could influence didn't take place too close to the same time as other people's meetings. Surely that couldn't be too hard, right?

She found the charity group easily enough - they were a decent sized collection of people and Anya was always easy to pick out of a crowd (Jasmine was more relieved than she probably should have been that her sister was sitting in a chair and not on top of a bookcase but it was still early and that could change) - and joined the group. She'd caught Evelyn's introduction as she approached (giving little waves to Ellie and Anya as she did so) so she guessed they were still in the going-round-and-saying-who-they were phase. Good. She hadn't missed a lot, except for the introductions for a couple of younger kids she didn't know. She'd work it out later though. She was generally pretty good with names, and she was pretty sure at least one of the unknowns was 'Freddie' who Ellie had gone to the ball with but whom Jasmine had never formally met.

"Hi," she said a little breathlessly when everyone looked at her, either because it was her turn, or just because she was drawing attention to herself by pulling over another chair, "I'm Jasmine, Anya's sister," she nodded over to Anya. "Sorry I'm late. I heard Evelyn, so I agree brownies and bracelets are both very good things." She wasn't quite sure of the context for either of those items, but nothing involving brownies or bracelets could be bad. "Baked goods could also have flags on them," she added, having heard just enough that this seemed like a good contribution if it hadn't already been mentioned.

1 Jasmine Delachene Yes! Me, too! Sorry, I'm late! 1397 0 5