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What would you do in the face of injustice? If you’re Grant Loveless, you combat it. Seeing incidences of anti-LGBTQ bullying in his high school, he decided the school needed a queer student group to create a safe space and raise visibility. Not taking “no” for an answer, Grant went on to create a wildly successful group – and burnish his own legacy in the process.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:06
My name is Grant Loveless and I’m from Austin, Texas.
00:10
My story begins when I was 10 years old and I moved to Manor, Texas. At the age of 10,
00:16
I was influenced a lot, especially by the tragic death of Trayvon Martin. During one
00:23
Sunday morning, I had asked my parents, “What do I do if I’m approached by a police officer?”
00:30
Their response was, “Be obedient. Follow the rules. Get out of the car. Don’t start no drama.”
00:39
And that was what they had taught me at the time when it came to confronting police, only at 10,
00:46
11 years old. And as I got older and I saw more injustice, I started to reflect on how I was
00:52
bullied in middle school and high school because of my high pitch voice, and the way I walked,
00:58
and a way, I had mannerisms. It kind of sparked something in me when getting into high school.
01:07
I remember that when I came out my freshman year of high school, I had developed a crush
01:12
on this one dude. During that brief romance, before he transferred to a different school, he
01:20
and I had a lot of conversations, not particularly around activism, but more about social justice.
01:27
During my junior year, I had identified how students who were LGBTQ were being
01:34
harassed or bullied. One of my trans friends at the time in high school came up to me and said,
01:40
“Look, there’s these boys that keep harassing me. They won’t let me use the bathroom.”
01:44
At the time, all I knew was how to find an issue and develop a solution.
01:50
I had approached my principal’s office, as bold as I am. I just went straight back there and had
01:58
listed out all the issues that I was being brought from the LGBTQ students.
02:06
His initial response was, “Right now is not the right time.”
02:10
Simply from the principal telling me “no” and me feeling that immediate spark to say, “Okay,
02:17
that “no” makes no sense to me. All I heard you say was, “Okay, Grant, you need to get to work.”
02:23
I just walked out and pulled out my phone and I texted one of my home girls
02:28
and said, “We need to do something.” And she sent me links on how to create a club,
02:32
how to create an organization. And the first faculty I thought of,
02:38
I instantly approached. I said, “How can we create this community on campus? What can we do?”
02:45
And she definitely did assist me in that and gave us her classroom as a space to use after school,
02:52
to have these meetings with students. And at first, of course, there were only two,
02:57
three students at a time, but as weeks came, it turned to 10, 20, 30. And a lot more students
03:04
started coming out and voicing their opinions as well as issues that they were facing on campus.
03:10
A lot of students were committed to having their voices heard. They were committed to having events
03:16
and of various things being created for them. With the creation of the LGBTQ group, we were able to
03:24
partner with OutYouth to create a consulting program in collaboration with Manor ISD.
03:30
We were also able to get a bulletin board where we showed meetings, members, their accomplishments,
03:38
as well, of course in high school, who they were, their stories. So it was all about
03:45
showing them that there was visibility on campus for LGBTQ students. With all the success we had
03:52
from the bulletin board, from partnering with OutYouth, as well as being placed in a yearbook,
03:59
as the first and only LGBTQ school, not to brag, but LGBTQ organization to be in a yearbook.
04:06
I believe when we hit at least 15 to 20 members is when I was called I was called to the principal’s
04:11
office. Having that conversation with him two months down the line seeing the success with the
04:16
yearbook and the partnering with OutYouth and such,
04:21
he definitely did gain interest in what it meant to be LGBTQ in creating these spaces.
04:28
He just basically said, “There was a misunderstanding. I wish we would’ve done
04:32
this sooner. And I was like, “Yeah, you shoulda.” It was just a proud accomplishment within itself
04:39
to see myself and a team of students to do something that wasn’t relevant yet.
04:47
It helped me in defining who I was, because that created my legacy,
04:52
because from high school to college it just definitely elevated my experiences.
04:57
Still being involved in LGBTQ activism,
05:00
when transitioning over to my freshman year of college for my senior year,
05:05
I worked with Austin Black Pride, OutYouth, as well as sister organizations with my community
05:14
college, Austin Community College, to teach you how to build sexual health or overcoming equities.
05:20
My story still isn’t fully complete. However, I know that I have to be unapologetic in whatever
05:27
spaces I go into. Living your truth is the most defining thing to do in your life.
05:34
Telling your story and being able to walk in a room confidently, knowing your story, knowing who
05:41
you want to target and knowing your message and your purpose, which does develop your passion.
05:47
Don’t ever be afraid of taking that next step of opening that door to see what opportunities lie or
05:55
what’s next in your journey of finding out who you are and how you can impact your community.
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video