THE DREAM:
I think the dream would be for us all to realize, we can be at different places, you know, we can be experiencing different things when it comes to like socio-economic status and things like that, but realizing that we’re all are like in a different place when it comes to money or how we’re living, that we don’t necessarily need to be fighting each other to live in a better place or to be living a better life. I think that’s the dream. To realize that we’re not enemies even though someone might be doing better than you may be.
THE STRUGGLE:
I think that the struggle is to be happy and to live. I think, you know, we as people… Conflict arises, you know, because we are just trying to live, you know, crabs in a bucket or whatever you would like to call it, and you know, it’s hard when you see other people who are living and it appears that they’re thriving and it appears that they’re happy, and you may not be. So, I think that’s what gets in the way, you know. We try to fight each other because we’re not happy or able to live.
WHAT I DO:
I work for the New York City Anti-Violence Project, and we essentially provide free services to people within the LGBTQ community that experience violence. Specifically in regards to what I do, I manage our 24 hour database to make sure that, you know, there’s someone to talk to these folks if ever they need support... And, I manage our database and I do a lot of statistics and data analysis on the violence people experience and report to us.
WHY I DO:
I think, you know, like one reason as to why I do that is because no one should have to experience violence, and largely I think, data and the stories that people desire to tell in relation to what they experience is like important. They always have statistics about POC people doing this and that or being incarcerated, whatever the case might be, but there aren’t a lot of statistics about LGBTQ people and the violence that they experience.
