LGBTQ+ Heritage month is a time to observe LGBTQ+ history, including moments associated with the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. The month is a time for recognizing role models within Babson and also for building community campus wide.
For me, it is particularly important because growing up there was never a word discussed about queer identities. There was never a support group in my high school. There was never an active LGBTQ+ center for adults or youth. It was not discussed, making it particularly alienating and lonely growing up with the only person you know like yourself is you.
I didn’t start learning about my identity and LGBTQ+ history, or its culture until I came to Babson. Being in college was the first time I had an LGBTQ+ organization at my school. It was the first time I had queer faculty and staff members to connect with. It was the first time that I wasn’t the only out person in my class year, and seeing that my identity was welcomed on campus inspired me to take initiative and strive to become active in the queer community at Babson.
LGBTQ+ Heritage month is important to me because I admire early activists who took a stance in a world so against them. It has gotten better; the LGBTQ+ community has made significant social progress in a short amount of time. However, it is important to remember and honor these people for fighting for the world we live in today, and also to continue that fight for social change. They got the ball rolling, and it is the people of today that are meant to continue that work. Whether it’s making macro level changes or changes in small pockets of our day-to-day environments, it’s important to remember that today, you can change tomorrow. We celebrate LGBTQ+ Heritage month to celebrate the changes and the people who made them yesterday and the years before us.
