That brings me to the nuanced way in which I experience my queerness. Because identity is fluid, it’s important not to assume anything of anyone. It’s a range of identities, feelings, and relationships that change over one’s life. It is an ongoing and lifelong process of understanding yourself, others, and the world around you. For many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people, the coming out process is a deeply personal, nuanced, and fluid process.

To the audience, this was another introduction of a panelist, but to me and to my friends sitting in the front row (clapping excitedly) I had finally done it. I had openly proclaimed it, “I am a queer Latina.” I informed the audience that as a queer Latina who is white presenting, in a heteronormative relationship but whose mother is Puerto Rican, whose father is an immigrant, there are a lot of complexities around queer identities. So why was I so nervous as I prepared to participate in one of probably dozens of panels I had been on? That moment I decided I would share a little more of my truth with the world. One minute you could be at a panel on Asian American youth organizing for Black Lives and the next I would be on a panel on the intersections of the reproductive justice movement and transgender rights. The conference was always a special place because aside from being the most popular political, leadership, and skills-building conference for the LGBTQ movement in the country, I always saw many friends from intersecting movements. It was another year and I was excitedly at the Creating Change conference, organized by the National LGBTQ Task Force.

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