#HowIResist Campaign 13

Someone should have told you that you were not what people said you were. That might have emancipated you from the expectations of a million voices judging you from a distance, which you believed as gospel. You might have found your identity independent of the shouts from the crowd or the cutting words of the critics.

Someone should have told you that you were loved as you were; not because of anything you did or won or achieved or made, but simply because you were lovable. It may have saved you from so restlessly striving to earn what you already deserved.

I can’t undo the brutal omissions you endured in the past, or the time you’ve squandered or the peace you’ve surrendered as a result.

I can only give you these words now, as a firm and steady spot to plant your foot and pivot as you begin again down another road, one with far fewer demons hiding in the shadows to ambush you.

So stop to listen to the whisper in your ear, that breaks the long and heavy silence and says that you are free. Feel the lightness that only love brings.

Somewhere along the road someone close to you should have told you all this, but they didn’t.

So I am telling you.

Be encouraged. – John Pavlovitz

#HowIResist

I’m a proud bisexual woman. It’s never been a secret that I like men and women…women a little bit more. For me, life (since I owned up to my truth four years ago) has consisted of waking up and living and loving as freely as I can, and pulling as much force as I can behind me every day in the battle against homophobia and bigotry.

I do not seek validation. I do not seek reassurance. I feel incredibly beautiful and powerful in my difference. – Umi

#HowIResist

I resist by looking at everyone through the lens of humanity, whatever their gender identity may be. I resist by being a success and creating a positive impact in the lives of others.

I resist by using my space to create a voice for the often-voiceless transgender and intersex community of Nigeria. – Mystique

#HowIResist

I resist by refusing to let society dictate to me how I should live, by being the flaming queen I originally was before an asshole boyfriend changed that, by shutting down homophobia however and wherever I can.

My family may not like that I’m gay, but I’ll be damned if I’ll live a lie just to please them. My reality is my truth and I’ll fight everyday for my truth because I’m human and deserve to be treated with the basic decency all humans deserve. – Mitch

#HowIResist

They bullied me in school. “Woman-man” and “boy-girl” were monikers for boys of my kind who preferred glam, prim and proper to the usual rambunctious nature of the others. But I learnt. I learnt how frightened they were of me. I learnt how to stare them down, every single one of them, made them swallow their voices, reduced them to whispers, all without violence. It’s a shame to them that a “sissy boy” can do what they can and much more, in more civilized fashion.

And that is how I resist, by being the best MAN I can be, no matter what labels the world throws at me. – Peaches

#HowIResist

I resist by keeping in mind that my life is what I make of it. And that my happiness will not be dictated by anyone. It’s not black and white. It’s got the beauty that deserves colours. – Masked Man