Why I Am Thankful

Prior to July 29th, 2014, I had never been further west than Denver, CO, and I only had a mild interest in visiting the rest of the western half of our country. Most of my travel dreams have been focused on history-laden places: Paris, Moscow, Shanghai, Johannesburg, etc. But I can truly say that the five days I spent out in Los Angeles completely changed my whole outlook on life.

The GLSEN 2014 Media Summit brought 11 new queer youth into my life, who all want to make the world a better place, and a whole host of GLSEN staff and supporters who want to work with us to make that change happen. As a group, we learned things as simple as the definition of pansexual (sexual attraction to all genders) to the complex battle going on in the Capitol right now over various pieces of legislation to make schools safer. We met and talked to queer advocates who have been working for years, fighting for LGBT rights, and younger advocates like Tyler Oakley, the YouTuber, and Jason Collins, the NBA star. But to me, the most significant trait of the summit was the atmosphere; it was full of energy, hope, and will to fight for a better future.

Before the summit, the inequality that the queer community faces angered me, but aside from small, not really noticeable actions in my community, I didn’t really know what I could do with my anger. Since I have returned to my little Virginia town, I have found the motivation to take my anger and channel it into actions. In the past week alone, I have laid out possible actions my school’s GSA for the next six months, from ways to get my school to talk about LGBT history, planned fundraisers, Valentine’s Day events for queer students, and possible announcements for Trans Day of Remembrance, and even had time to make some mac and cheese. And it’s all because of the Summit. The positive atmosphere helped me find the motivation to actually do more with my school’s GSA, and in turn, do more to fight for queer rights. It may be a small step, but it is a step in a direction that I am more than willing to fight for.

Bek is a high school senior and a GLSEN Student Ambassador.