INDIGO
WISCONSIN| SERIES # 4
My name is Indigo Dawn. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Yes, that’s my first name, so No, Dawn is not my middle name. These are things I have to say to people a lot with a cool hippie double-first-name like mine. My parents were just that, cool hippies, which is ultimately how I ended up with the name.
I was born to these two wonderful beings in April of 2002. They brought me home from the hospital in a VW van, to a house located on the east side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in Riverwest, a neighborhood described as hip, diverse, and artsy.
Growing up nobody around me treated same sex relationships as odd or abnormal. I knew of five same sex couples in my immediate circles.
Eighth grade was the first time I ever experienced something truly homophobic. One of my friends made a comment that if she ever turned out to be gay that she asked her parents to admit her to a psychiatric hospital. This hit me hard, but I wasn’t quite sure why. Later that year, I began to question my sexuality. Over the summer I finally learned what a crush was because I actually had one! Before then I was always confused because I did not find guys attractive in the least. I guess being gay never occurred to me. In sixth grade I even thought I had a crush on a boy because, compared to the rest of the boys I knew, he seemed clean. My thoughts were, “Well, I guess he has nice clothes and an ok haircut. This must be a crush.” And oh honey was I wrong! This crush felt different. When I thought of her I smiled.
Once I was sure that I was gay I still didn’t feel comfortable to have a sit down coming out. I thought about writing a letter or sending a text, but that almost felt more awkward to me. I decided I would just tell my parents when I started dating someone just as any straight person gets the luxury of doing. After I made this decision to myself I didn’t worry too much about it. I thought, “Hey, if it happens, it happens.” I decided I wouldn’t limit my expression or try to hide anything.
By the end of freshman year my gayness was pretty well known around my school, or at least in my friend groups. I am lucky in the fact that each close friend I came out to still sees me as me. During sophomore year I wanted to start a GSA. I assumed this would be a difficult task, as I go to a private Catholic school, and I was right. This however didn’t discourage me. I continued to ask and when I was not getting any answers I took charge. I set up meetings and wrote emails. When our administration changed, it became much easier to get the club passed. Now as a junior, I am happy to be the president of the club. When the day came for people to sign up, I thought that maybe five people would want to join. But I was wrong. By the end of the day I had a total of 53 students who wanted to become members of the new Gender and Sexuality Alliance.
We have weekly meetings and discuss our lives as queer teens. I host what we call an LGBTea party, where we drink tea and eat brownies. We are currently discussing having a guest speaker come in to talk to the whole faculty and staff on gender, sexuality, pronouns, etc.
I believe that hate comes from ignorance and that education is extremely important. I always try and educate people in any way that I can. I love activism and I think that through being a part of a larger movement our voices can be heard and listened to. I plan to teach Waldorf Kindergarten, but believe someday I might run for office.
I want each individual reading this, whether you're old or young, LGBTQ+ or not, to know that your voice has power, and your life holds value. If throughout your day you can make one person smile, even if that person is yourself, then the day has been a successful one.
