LGBTQIA+ Cafe on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Philippe Delachene

January 14, 2023 7:42 PM

LGBTQIA+ Cafe by Philippe Delachene

Philippe stood behind the welcoming table set up just inside the MARS water room, hoping to see some returning faces, and for his posters in each of the House Common Rooms and in the Cascade Hall to have brought in anyone else who was interested in finding out more about Sonora's LGBTQIA+ community or being an ally.

Beyond him, there was an outdoor scene with a clear running stream with a bed of smooth rounded rocks and a small waterfall. A fairly large patio was set up with both regular patio furniture and a set of beanbag chairs around a cheerful fountain that changed colors, cycling through the rainbow. There were snacks on the patio tables, some popcorn (with dairy warnings on the bowls that were buttered), some cookies (the vegan ones clearly labeled as such), and some potato chips.

In front of Philippe, on the table, there were templated name tags that people could fill out, with a prompt to add pronouns as well as name, and various flag pins people could chose from for their own situation if they wanted to share it (and there was a handy guide for people who weren't sure which flag was for what). There were also pamphlets about the McLeod Foundation, DISCUSS, and several other groups geared toward helping people who weren't straight cis folks.

His own name tag read:
Hello, my name is Philippe
My pronouns are He/Him

He wore a generic pride flag beside it, in part because he was the club president and wanted to show support for everyone, and partly because he honestly wasn't sure if he was gay or bisexual. He'd only ever dated Freddie, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't think some of the girls in the school were cute.

Philippe greeted the attendees as they arrived, inviting them to fill out a name tag and to chose a flag if they wanted one. Once they had done so, he ushered them into the 'room', promising a group introduction in a little bit, but feel free to mingle, eat snacks, and walk barefoot in the stream until then.

Once people stopped arriving and everyone had filled out a name tag, Philippe gathered the group together around the fountain, some people sitting on the fountain edge, others in the beanbag chairs, and a few choosing to stand or pull over normal chairs.

"Hello, everyone," he greeted. "I'm Philippe Delachene, the club president. This club is a place to socialize, build a supportive community, have a safe space to be yourself, ask each other advice, and do some promoting of inclusivity and such." He wasn't as into activism as Ellie had been, and it wasn't one of his priorities as a president to push it, but if people wanted to address related issues within the school or outside of it, they would certainly have his support. "And though it might not seem it, the new single occupancy bed rule that went into effect this year is actually a good thing for us. It means same sex couples are now recognized as existing by the staff, and they're doing what they can to make sure we stay safe, too. My greatest sympathies to anyone it effects, though, because it sucks."

He was personally very glad that it went into effect after Freddie graduated, and he was more than a little bit afraid that it was their fault the new enchantments existed at all, and it just took a year and change to get through all the bureaucracy, because there had definitely been a few sleepovers two years ago between a seventeen year old boy and fifteen year old boy, and they both had roommates who might have reported it, though both Jasper and Dathan seemed cool with them, and they'd just slept because, ew, Dathan or Jasper were right there and nobody would have been okay with anything other than sleep going on under those conditions.

"I do want to stress that this is a safe space. Please respect each other's identities and privacy. If a topic is making you uncomfortable, you can tell the person or people you're with that you don't want to talk about that, or to ask someone else. If someone tells you either of those things, you drop the subject, okay? If the uncomfortable topic persists despite your request, get my attention, and I'll deal with it. It's also considered invasive to directly ask people how they identify, so if it's not volunteered, don't ask. Nobody is required to out themselves to be a part of this club."

"So, anyway, I think it would be a good idea to go around with introductions, then we can break out and socialize more informally. If you do have questions, you can talk to me after introductions. I am willing to educate. For your introduction, you don't need to say anything you're uncomfortable sharing, and it's okay if you're not LGBTQIA+ yourself. Allies are very welcome here. I'll go first. Like I said, I'm Philippe Delachene. I'm a seventh year Teppenpaw, and one of the Head Students this year," he grinned with a little bit of pride for that achievement. He'd thought he'd had a shot at it, but it had been by no means guaranteed. There was a lot of competition in his year group for it, and he wasn't the Teppenpaw who he'd figured had the best odds for it. "This is my second year running the Cafe and my fourth year being a part of it. I joined in my third year after I started dating my boyfriend."

He gestured to his left to let the next closest person know it was their turn.

OOC: In case it wasn't clear, the name tags have the following preprinted text:
Hello, my name is
My pronouns are

You can respond to the introduction circle or mingle before or afterwards

1 Philippe Delachene LGBTQIA+ Cafe 1489 1 5

Xavier Lundstrom

January 16, 2023 4:54 AM

Interesting cafe.... by Xavier Lundstrom

Under Philippe's leadership the LGBTQIA+ "cafe" had become less of a cafe and more of a park. This was a move that Xavier was one hundred percent behind. Not that he had objected to anything about the way Ellie was doing things when she had been doing them, just that now there was a new direction, he liked it. There were only so many times you could admire an abstract rainbow swirl on a wall and really care - even if they were allegedly different each time. A rainbow fountain was way cooler. And a stream to play in. He put his name tag (Xavier, he/him) and pride flag on (rainbow because no one knew the actual gay guy pride flag was and it looked like toothpaste) and then took advantage of Philippe's layout. He kicked off his shoes and socks and rolled up his pant legs to wade into the stream.

He clambered out of it for intros, but stood letting his feet dry in the grass, suspecting he would be back in the stream soon enough. He picked up a cookie, feeling a slight sense of loss for Ellie's brownies. He listened to Philippe's intro, slightly surprised that he called The Worst Rule Ever a 'good thing.' Xavier was sure there could have been ways for the staff to acknowledge their existence without restricting his options for making out. It seemed like being a seventh year and head boy was really getting to Philippe because he was sounding like an adult. Xav had had plenty of lectures over the holidays about "staying safe." His parents seemed wary of Oz being older than him, which was ridiculous, because it was by less than a year. But they'd made a bigger deal about Oz being sixteen already than Xavier really understood. Oz was the same amount older than him than he'd always been. They weren't doing anything really bad, and it was with his serious, steady, proper boyfriend not with random guys. Philippe did at least acknowledge that the rule sucked.

“I’m Xavier. Fifth year Pecari. I’m gay,” he introduced himself when it was his turn. Philippe had said they didn’t have to share or whatever, but this had never been something Xavier was uncomfortable with. “And I hate the bed rule,” he added, for flavour, and to invite anyone who didn’t feel like taking Philippe’s view of it to come talk to him. It only vaguely crossed the back of his mind whether or not he should say that, in terms of whether it would make people wonder why, and by turn implicate Oz, but it was too convoluted for him to really worry that it counted as ‘outing’ his boyfriend. After all, maybe he just missed doing homework or gossiping with his roommate. When the introductions finished, he glanced around, definitely with half a mind to go back to the stream, though there were a couple of things he wouldn’t mind Philippe’s advice on…

OOC: Much as per the OOC in Verdillia's thread, I'm up for talking to anyone here :)

13 Xavier Lundstrom Interesting cafe.... 1529 0 5

Lenny Pierce

January 19, 2023 7:11 PM

I support the bucking of expectations by Lenny Pierce

This past summer was not a normal one for Lenny. Mostly that was because he spent far too much of it in doctor's or therapist's offices. When he wasn't doing that, he was often in a library, on the public computers, mostly trying to pass the home school exams that the State of California required. Sonora had forms that would prove to the muggle government that he was attending a boarding school out of state, and that would have been the easy solution, but he'd been registered as a homeschooler since kindergarten, and Mum still sent him assignments by owl, and it really wasn't that hard to squeeze in some math and science and stuff. As a beginner, he'd only had core classes, and as intermediate, he wasn't adding any electives (other than divinations, but that barely counted since he already knew a lot), and he had decent time management skills and he wasn't bogged down by Quidditch or anything, so he took the tests, and passed them, and California was satisfied he was keeping up with the muggle curriculum.

But when he needed a break from staring at numbers or reading essays for comprehension assessments, he'd poked around on the internet to try to figure out just what he thought he identified as. Until this past spring, he'd confidently called himself a boy. Sure, he liked pretty things, and he shopped for his wardrobe in the girls section primarily, but he was a boy and he thought gender expectations were stupid and unreasonable.

He still thought gender expectations were stupid and unreasonable, but getting approved to take hormone suppressants had made him face the idea that he maybe wasn't 100% comfortable with the 'boy' label anymore. Or rather, 'boy' was okay. 'Man' not so much. And he'd put a hard stop on his body changing from one to the other, at least for now.

He couldn't stay a kid forever. He knew that. But now he had some time and breathing room to decide exactly what it was he did want to be when he did mature. Whether he did want to try growing into a man after all or if he wanted to maintain something a bit more non-binary. Right now, he was leaning more in the ambiguous direction, but he'd left the door open in case he changed his mind. His suppressants were only good for six months at a time.

So he'd been reading a lot of internet definitions, and thinking hard about labels, so when he walked into the Café meeting, he was ready with a flag choice and how he wanted to present himself.

He readily put Lenny down as his name ('John' didn't even register as a possibility - 'John Lennon Pierce' was what he knew was on all of his official paperwork but in every other setting it should always be 'Lenny'), and didn't hesitate on his pronouns of He/Him either. Even if he did go with a non-binary adulthood, his pronouns were not going to change. He was comfortable with He/Him, always had been, and the idea of being a She/Her just sounded so very foreign. That wasn't who Lenny was.

It was a striped flag of gray, blue, and white that he picked up to pin next to his nametag on the rainbow sundress that he was wearing today. Demiboy. A person who identifies as partially masculine, but not wholly binary. It was the label he thought suited him best with his preference to be a male but without a lot of the physical features that went with male adulthood like facial hair and a deep voice. It fell under the trans umbrella, but wasn't wholly trans, which he felt was appropriate for him.

He still thought the ability to wear dresses and be pretty was something all guys should be allowed and therefore didn't include his fashion sense into his gender identity.

Lenny moved into the Water Room and was delighted to find vegan cookies on the tables. He popped a handful of unbuttered popcorn into his mouth and carried his cookie to the stream. He was wearing waterproof sandals, so he just stepped right in.

Philippe called them over for the opening spiel a little while later, and after Xavier went it was his turn for introductions, as they'd ended up standing next to each other after walking over from roughly the same place.

"Hi, I'm Lenny Pierce," he said, leaving off his branch because he and Cole were supposed to be twins and they couldn't really be twins if they went around the school introducing themselves as coming from opposite sides of the country. "Third year Teppenpaw. I also hate the bed rule because I can't even sit with my twin brother on our beds in our room anymore. Anyway, my pronouns are he/him but I'm not entirely binary, and I've adopted the demiboy flag this year," he tapped the pin on his dress.

As introductions finished up, Lenny smiled at Xavier as their gazes happened to cross again. "Bed rule sucks," he offered in commiseration, as it had been a thing both of their intros had touched upon (though admittedly, Xavier's mention of it had inspired his own), and it was as good a conversational starter as any. Without any Teppenpaw boys within a year of him in either direction, other than Cole (who he did love, but sorry, not like that; they were twins in spirit if not in blood), it probably wasn't going to complicate any romantic trysts for him, now or later, but it was annoying enough on a platonic level. "And I don't even have a boyfriend yet."

Philippe had said he was in third when he started dating, so Lenny hoped maybe he could at least explore some possibilities this year. He didn't know with who, or even with which gender, but he was definitely open to the possibility if the opportunity presented itself.

1 Lenny Pierce I support the bucking of expectations 1547 0 5

Xavier Lundstrom

January 20, 2023 5:09 AM

But not being bucked off our beds by Xavier Lundstrom

Lenny was not someone Xavier had given a lot of thought to. He was someone Xavier had noticed a lot, because it was hard not to, but it hadn't gone much beyond being vividly aware of his existence. Part of that was that Xavier hadn't had a lot of spare capacity for thinking about other people, what with everything that was going on in his life, and part of it was that Lenny didn't seem to need much thinking about. He was fine. He seemed happy. He was In Teppenpaw, so he wasn't going to get beaten up by his housemates.

When he did think about Lenny, it was mostly that he, Xav, didn’t fully get what was going on with him, but he was probably meant to support it or whatever, so he… guessed he did? He was glad Lenny had explained the flag he was sporting because all Xavier had got from it was ‘sad toothpaste’ and therefore maybe like…. slightly gay? But apparently it was something that wasn’t that. ‘Explained’ was possibly the wrong word to use. Lenny had labelled the flag, but Xavier wasn’t still entirely sure what it meant and he wondered whether people in the real world actually used these terms and flags, or just stuck rainbows on everything and then made out with whoever seemed hot to them. That sounded like a much easier system, but he wasn’t going to actually get into an argument about any of it. He’d grown up with enough privilege that he didn’t find much about being gay worth getting into an argument about.

He noticed Lenny had opted for stream-wading too, which was cool, and gave him something of a more meaningful common ground, so he was happy enough to linger when Lenny seemed to be hovering conversationally. It turned out he wanted to help Xav pile on against the bed rule, which was another thing he was more than happy to entertain. Although he had the horrible feeling it really was something to do with him, given that his parents knew about Oz and didn’t want him doing several of the things he was either already doing or was very tempted to do.

“You like boys then?” he asked, when Lenny revealed that piece of information. Maybe the sad toothpaste flag was actually about being kind of into boys? That sort of matched the label Lenny had given.

“By the way, the enchantment seems to be on the bed itself, or like… the thing as a whole. If you pile pillows and blankets on the floor, they don’t throw you. Plus once you get good at the cushioning charm, you can make the floor pretty comfy.” He wondered how much he should spread that, lest the staff got wind of it and made another even more ridiculous rule, but Lenny didn’t seem like a snitch—certainly not if he wanted to avoid the rule now and potentially in the future. And passing on this kind of wisdom seemed like a noble purpose for the club.

13 Xavier Lundstrom But not being bucked off our beds 1529 0 5