Franz Lenard Torres 
Have you ever had to sit in a classroom while people debate if you should have rights or not?
War. A battle of knife-like words in front of me. The theater? A classroom in our 9 to 10 AM Social Sciences class. And the mastermind? My teacher who seemingly asked an “innocent” question because, in her defense, it’s an appropriate and relevant question, so who’d dare question her inquiry?
If you’re not familiar with the concept of argument, let me help you. Usually, there are two sides. One side claims that I deserve rights and the other, well, they say I should wallow in the absence of civil acknowledgement that my kind exists. So they went, selected like-minded people to form their five-member team and outlined points to justify their beliefs because for them, this is just a silly activity for potentially 50 points in their performance task column.
I can’t seem to grapple with the situation I am in. Am I an alien on my own planet? A prisoner in my own kingdom? A hostage to be negotiated for ransom?
But I digress, let them say their piece for now. Who am I to interrupt an academic exchange where valuable opinions can shine? My presence was of no importance because it was the debaters’ voices first over ours.
I listened, fidgeting with my fingernails as the first speaker read from their bullet points. They said something about their faith, their reasoning backed up by their religion. The same religion and God I stand before and worship. Our scriptures and beliefs seem to go against my very being and identity; me — the same me that I knew ever since I first saw myself in the mirror. I was merely a sin to be condemned and rejected therefore, I shouldn’t be sitting here, listening to them talk. They ended their justifications with a verse from Genesis, elucidating that God only made two manifestations of man and there shouldn’t be divergence in any shape or form.
Then another followed. They said we were immoral — I was immoral. Unethical. Disgusting. Repulsive. Words emphasized by the way their eyes seemed to fill with revolt at the thought of my happiness because who am I to plaster a smile on my face? Following after, was another who said all the same things as if they were actors reading from the same script. It’s as if they only spoke from hatred and disgust rather than thinking to themselves that at the end of the day, the objects they reduced to mere sin are also creations of the hands of God — hands that seemed to be heavy against my sort.
It felt like I couldn’t talk, couldn’t string the right words to form a sentence to defend my existence, because there it was again. A familiar friend I have come to love: doubt. The doubt that swallows me whole, because to go against the Almighty is to go against creation itself. Was I only a stain not worthy to be lathered in the canvas of His design? Who am I to dispute the faith instilled in me? Should I concede and accept my defeat?
“Could I deny myself even more than I already have?” Logic and solid counter arguments be damned. I was speaking for myself and my community on that podium.
“I deserve it,” I said, contemplating whether I should speak for the side arguing for my liberation. I am a novice when it comes to speaking in front of eyes pointed in my direction, but all else dissipates and vanishes when there are words that should be spoken and never kept inside the solitude of my mind.
Everyone deserves to live a life free from discrimination and the fear of being ostracized by the people you love because you seek a glance into the freedom you deprive yourself of. Pride Month is a chance to commemorate the continued resilience, struggle, and achievement of those that divert from the binary. By honoring Pride, we reaffirm our dedication to diversity, equality, and human rights, consequently encouraging a society where everyone may live genuinely and openly as themselves, free of prejudice and biases. And it should stay that way so that dreams can also become reality for those that have been dreaming their whole lives. They should also get a chance to live in a reality where they are loved, content, and happy.
I deserve to be regarded and respected the same way “normal” people are, for I am also normal; not an alien, not illegal and most of all, also a being crafted by the very hands of the Divine Himself. I deserve to be happy with people I choose to love. I deserve to be considered in every decision to be made. I deserve to be acknowledged and the spaces I occupy. I deserve everything that you also deserve.
I should be felt.
I should be heard.
I should be seen.
I deserve to… live.
