“How Do We Imagine Our Social Connections with a Larger Community?”

It is natural to often view ourselves in a critical lens and we then apply this lens to our interactions and unity with others. We judge ourselves which then makes us judge the community itself harshly. In order to imagine our connections with others we need to start seeing how we all are unique and have something to offer either big or small to the area we are born to or choose to live in. As I became more involved on campus and met kids who were also LGTBQ I found that many of us did not know how we connected to the community outside of campus. The university has always tried to make us feel safe and accepted and given us resources in case we came across issues. Kids who Transgender however from what I have encountered feel more uncertain about their connections to the community. One kid explained to me how he did not know how to walk up to even other gay people to ask for a date because some but not all gay people are uncomfortable with that fact he had undergone surgery. As a social justice topic this situation that is described is hard to talk about because we cannot just force another person to date another. This situation though is just a small window to what it can be like to be Transgender and the trials they go through to be who they deserve to be. Even among other people who are part of the smaller community sometimes ostracize them so it makes it an even greater challenge to connect to community at the city or state level. One way that could help is to ask people who are LGTBQ specifically Transgender how they would want to engage with others to bring more awareness and acceptance. What issues do they find that pushes against their goals? Is it possible that the message or goals may not reach people in an effective way? In order to imagine our best way to imagine our connections to the community we have to ask how we would like to engage in it and what possible obstacles do we create or face.

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