One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Marsha P. Johnson, a well known LGBT activist who gave birth to the LGBT equality movement after the Stonewall Riots. "No pride for some without liberation for all," she said in the midst of protesting for her people. It was a bold and impactful statement that rang true to many LGBT folks, even today. That quote is so powerful to me because it constantly keeps me on my toes with my activism. As an LGBT activist, I am constantly thinking about how to overcome our oppression, how to get society to a point where we can experience this “pride” Marsha talks about it after achieving true liberation. It also keeps me grounded during Pride Month because although we celebrate our diverse identities for that duration, there are still people inside and outside the United States that are still being persecuted for their queer identities and we need to keep fighting for all of our sakes. Just as Dr. King said in his Salem speech “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and as long as people are experiencing persecution, we cannot all be free and therefore can have no pride in our identity.

Before I graduated with my biology degree from Florida International University, I endured an abusive relationship that involved intimate partner violence. After being silent for months throughout my senior year, I finally reached out for support. I used what I had learned about sexual violence as President of Simple Pleasure, a queer sex education club, and reported the incident to law enforcement and healthcare providers. I also reached out to the LGBTQIA+ Initiatives office for support during this process. I utilized every resource that I knew was available for survivors like me. As a queer, trans, intersex person of color, I already knew how institutional systems unfairly treat people like me—but this was my very first glimpse into the incompetent system we have set in place for survivors. In the process of getting care at the rape center, I was misgendered, blamed for the rape, laughed at while the samples were taken, and baker acted after I asked for a therapist. During the baker act, I was treated horribly. I was stripped of my clothes (even though I had just been raped) and abandoned. No one believed my story, no one considered the trauma I had just faced, and no one cared how I felt. The next morning, after a long tortuous stay in a room where the only thing I could do was repeat what had happened over and over again in my head, I left the hospital with only socks and the gown they gave me. They stripped me of everything that day, including my dignity. My story is not uncommon among people in the LGBTQIA+ community. In fact, our experiences are reported by the limited research there is on sexual assault within the LGBTQIA+ community. Although what happened to me was unfair, I also walked out of that hospital with a sense of purpose to rewrite this story for LGBTQIA+ survivors and to reform the healthcare system. Because of my experience, I am more resilient than ever and willing to do whatever it takes to make conditions for survivors better. I understand years before me there wasn’t even a rape center, but years after me, and because of activists like myself, it is my aspiration that these rape centers will have competent providers-systems that lift the burden of trauma off survivors to promote their healing. In order to improve the health care system for survivors, we need survivors to lead public health and healthcare initiatives because they understand what the community needs the most. That is why I am here doing what I need to do-because I have that perspective as a queer survivor. Equality comes by advocating for those who don’t have a voice in society and survivors are those people. As a queer survivor, it is my mission to ensure other survivors, especially LGBTQIA+ ones, get an equal opportunity in life, the same rights to proper healthcare, and people who will be their advocates. We deserve it.