Everyone deserves to be treated equally

[Applause]

there are many issues in the world

and i’m here to talk about just one

this issue is a discrimination against

the lgbtq plus community

also known as the queer community

members of this community face

discrimination from even

their own families for merely existing

sometimes their families goes as far as

to disown them

the sad thing is in some places even the

laws don’t protect them

so what is a queer community well it’s a

community of normal people

members of the queer community identify

as something that is not

cisgender or someone who identifies as

something that is not their biological

gender or heterosexual or straight

lgbtq plus stands for lesbian gay

bisexual transgender queer or sometimes

questioning and others the plus

represents other sexual identities

including pansexual and two spirits a

few decades ago

people of this community were looked

down upon just because society thought

they were

not normal or not natural well we are

normal people

we may be different but we are certainly

normal

just because your friend is taller than

you doesn’t make them abnormal right

well just because a girl likes girls

instead of boys

romantically or sexually does not make

them abnormal either

like any minority the lgbtq plus

community has always fought for their

rights

let’s go back in history to a few

decades ago

the stonewall riot was the first step

taken by the queer community to tell the

world to stop mistreating us

on june 28 1969 it started at the

stonewall inn in manhattan united states

and lasted for five days this riot was

started by people from the local gay and

lesbian bars

who were being treated poorly and

violently by the police

the gays and lesbians were regular

people just like every one of us

like me like you and they deserve to be

treated fairly

but they weren’t and because of this

many

of them back then hid their sexual

identities

not telling others that they were a part

of the queer community

because if they did society would try to

fix

them some people were jailed

electrocuted and some were even hung to

death

just because society didn’t accept them

as they were

i am demisexual panromantic and identify

as a demi female

let me explain demisexual means that i

only feel sexually attracted to someone

when i have an emotional bond with the

person

and panoramatic means i can have a

romantic relationship

regardless of their gender identity with

anyone

but not everyone because that will be

way too much people

now demi-female sounds similar to

demisexual

does it mean i like girls more than boys

no

it means i identify as a genderless no

gender or

non-binary but closer to a female

and by that i use a pronoun of she her

they them it but it can be different for

other demi-female folks out there here’s

my story

when i was in grades one and two back in

china

i would always here my classmates

telling

about each other how bad it was to like

someone of the same gender as yourself

back then we were all confused confused

children and had no idea what we’re

talking about

and that was my first time hearing about

the queer community

by the time i was in grade 6 i settled

in canada

one of my classmates is bisexual meaning

they like girls

and boys i started to think about myself

and my preferences i knew that i wasn’t

straight

but i knew i wasn’t fully a lesbian

either

before that i always thought that being

gay or lesbian was weird

so i didn’t even think that i would

identify as a queer

until i realized that i was probably

weird myself so i went

oh so i’m bisexual skip to grade seven

a good friend of mine told me that they

were pansexual meaning they like

everyone regardless of their gender

identity but not at the same time

and i being quite clueless at the same

time went

oh yeah i’m fine with other gendered

identities too i’m pansexual then

and skipped a few months later i found

out that there’s something out there

called demisexual so i went oh i’m

demisexual panromantic then

and that was the bizarre story of how i

came out to find myself

now i know that there are people out

there who don’t like queer people

and even my dad is homophobic but i

don’t mind that

he’s not treating me badly because we’re

here in canada

and this isn’t something out of the

ordinary here to be queer

but i do know that he likes me a bit

less than before i came out

but i’m proud to be me and all of you

should be proud of yourself as well

i was a confused child before i came to

understand and accept myself

and i stand here now because i want you

to know that it’s okay to be confused

it’s okay to be curious and i i

encourage you to go through different

phases before fine discovering yourself

and accepting your authentic self

i stand here today because the queer

community is my community

i want to tell people what it’s like to

be queer

and i want to spread awareness about the

discrimination we face in the world

people deserve the freedom to be who

they are to choose their identity

to choose who they like and to choose

how they express themselves if you have

a gay or lesbian or transgender friend

or anyone you know in the queer spectrum

please support them

lend them a hand or listening ear at

least

tell them that you care about them and

accept them no matter how they identify

themselves i want you to know that i

care

and so should you we’re all humans after

all

and we all deserve to be treated equally

thank you