How many people do you know are openly gay?  Sure, in today's society, it is now more acceptable to be openly gay, but how many people do you know are happy with it.  Personally, it should be a topic of all rights to be protected.  Other than the black lives matter movement, the LGBTQ community have been struggling to keep their rights protected as well.  As a straight female, people often question me as to why I have such strong emotions about the LGBTQ community, and it's because many of the people I live the most are involved.  There should be way more movements into it then there are now. 

Some of my closest friends and family members just so happen to be a part of the LGBTQ community.  They have told me stories about things that have happened to them because they are openly gay and how it has affected them and their personality.  For one thing that people should take a look into is using the correct pronouns.  One thing people do not keep in mind is that many people are gender neutral.  This means the person is comfortable with using pronouns from both genders.  It is ok to talk to them using she/her and he/him pronouns. As for trans people, they prefer to use non-binary pronouns; so yes, a person can have both male and female parts, but its respectful to call them by the pronouns they prefer. Recently Playboy released their first trans playmate and the feedback and reactions she got from the public were horrific, which is what made me choose this as my topic. When it comes to biology, we are all born with the sex male or female, but who has the right to say what gender we are. 

Another reason I support the LGBTQ community is because there are a lot of ways to express yourself artistically.  Drag just so happens to be a form of art.  Many people think that because a man likes doing drag then he wants to be a woman, and that isn't the case at all. Some people are just able to be themselves and express emotion through drag. 

One idea I was thinking of doing was collecting different stories of people apart of the LGBTQ community. Whether it's their coming out story, or just an interesting story they had happen to them, and somehow paint what they said on a pride flag.  I think it will be very inspirational for people who haven't come out yet to look at while walking past it. 

www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/arts/playboy-playmate-transgender.html.