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Emely Callejas
Professor Jennifer Rodrick
QS 115
8 December 2016
Queer Spaces
Living in a non idealistic society, one has to fit and conform to others standards. Being
in the LGBTQ community, there are expected behavior that comes with being gay, lesbian,
transgender,etc everywhere. The space around people forces one to stick with societys labels.
Nevertheless we can change our labels, but as long as we identified as one of the labels provided,
we cant fully be ourselves. The LGBTQ community has to create their identity with the
stereotypes in society and conform to what others make them believe is right by forcing religious
practices on them, harassing them or just being afraid of being judged because they dont fit into
the normal category. This opens a path to where the LGBTQ community cant live in peace in
this world.
When coming out of the closet, there are people expecting you to be their definition of a
queer individual. Wherever you are, it is common sense to act or dress appropriately because of
the expectations placed before you. Nash writes in article about interviewing a male about
identifying as gay and to what limit does he have to become gay enough, specifically in public
spaces. I do make decisions about how queer I want to look based on where Im going and
who Im going to be talking to and generally that's an empowering choice for me (Nash). The
interviewee feels he is in control of his life only when he has to pick which label he want to be
identified as. He doesn't want to stand out in a bad way because he feels that being apart of the

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LGBTQ is already causing unwanted attention. He limits himself to whom he wants to display
because he doesn't want discrimination from others if he doesn't fit their standards. In another
interview he talks to a guy named George about how he labels himself according the societys
categories. For example, in my conversation with George, he argued against being positioned
within pre-existing categories of legibility and recognition. He felt that these categories impose a
stability and certainty about identity that is too narrow a referencing system for life experiences
(Nash). Even with queer labels society provides, there are still not enough to identify everyone's
stories and experiences. The LGBTQ community has to confine to what is given, if they dont,
they are afraid they wont be considered. Although people come out about true sexuality, they
are still constricted to limits placed before them by society. These stereotypes confine the
identity of the queer individual because of the limit of freedom that is in these spaces.
Deciding to open up about your sexuality can feel like a weight lifted off your shoulder
but in some

cases, it can go worse than expected. In The Full Spectrum by David Levithan,
girls father founds out she is lesbian through a phone conversation he overheard she was having.
Instantly, the father doesnt accept the fact that his daughter is lesbian and makes her go see a
priest. The father hopes that it will change who she is. A priest. I told my dad it wasnt going to
do anything, but Ill go to his church and Ill talk to his priest. Its not going to change
me(Levithan 43). Her father pushed religion onto her hoping it will change who she is. This
made her conform according to her fathers beliefs. In reality, it traumatized her because she saw

no support coming from her father. Another story in The Full Spectrum, an individual decides to
come out as transgender from female to male. She tells her program director to call her Alex and
use pronouns such as he, his and him. Thinking that my attraction to girls could only identify

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me as a dyke, I identify as just that. I was, in that program, known as Heather the dyke
(Rasmussen 74). The author wanted to be known as a male but according to his peers, he could
do nothing to convince them out of the dyke term. The director tells him that he cant be a
male because he was born otherwise. This makes the reader believe that the director didnt want
the others to know about gender change or even ask questions that the director knew she couldnt
provide the answers to. In the book Composing Gender another individual describes her
bathroom situation as a transgender. When I first transitioned, I became temporarily disabled
since the administration interim solution was that I use the single access handicapped restroom
on a different floor of my building (Doan 60-61). Disable means a person having a physical or
mental condition that limits movements, senses, or activities. If the label of being unable
wasnt bad enough due to her gender, the door had no lock leaving any of her students to walk in
and no privacy for Petra Doan. Overcoming the sexuality barrier can be challenging, however it
can open many pathways to finding your identity in spaces you can feel comfortable in.
Verbal abuse and sexual assault contributes to forming the queer identity because even in
the space you feel the most safe to be yourself, you are vulnerable in many ways. In Composing
Gender, Petra Doan talks about her experience in an elevator with a man trying to expose her.
By squeezing my breasts he was objectifying and assaulting what young (1998) calls the most
visible sign of womans femininity. In my case he assumed he was attacking my false femininity
to expose me for an imposter (Doan 58). The man that assaulted her knew his actions were
wrong. Yet, because she was transgender, he thought his actions were justified because she
wasnt normal according to him. This trauma made Petra Doan think its okay to sexually
assault her because she is different, that it comes with being apart of queer community. That an

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LGBTQ individual should get used to the assault they are going to face. The writer also shares
her experiences in her home where you would think she feels the safest in the world. Petra Doan
notes that it's her voice that forms who she is over the phone. Callers who do not know me
invariably hear my voice and assume that I am male. However, many callers refuse to
disbelieve their ears and continue this pronoun abuse by calling me Mister and Sir (Doan 62).
Many people dont understand how the little pronouns can cause pain to a transgender
individual. No one should have to go through that mental abuse because the trauma can make a
person believe its okay that they receive that kind of abuse. Even in the safest spaces, you can
never fully be comfortable
A lot of people fear the outcome of coming out because they wouldnt meet the
expectations and they would feel like they dont belong anywhere. In a Ted Talk video, the
speaker Morgana Bailey talks about how she thought her coworkers would think hey if shes a
lesbian, then she must be a dyke, that she has to be masculine. She didnt want her sexuality to
define who she is. She says many times in the video, she wants to know as just Morgana, not
my lesbian friend Morgana or my gay coworker Morgana. She didnt want to carry around the
labels everywhere she went. Morgana Bailey talks about how people conform at work because
its beneficial to a long term career advancement. Many like Morgana Bailey have to conform to
the environment surrounding them even if it means not being themselves. In The Full Spectrum,
talks about trying to fit in even though they know they cant because people would think theyre
abnormal. At homecoming while the rest of the girls were worrying about whether their nails
were an even coat, I was trying and retrying on the same dress every year, hoping it would be
just enough to get through the night without a whole lot of attention. ...There was no winning,

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and certainly no passing as that kind of girl even when I tried (Wehman 246). The author felt
they had to portray a girl to be normal. The writer had to hide who they were even if it meant
being uncomfortable for a whole night. In another video titled Why Are Queer Spaces Important
talks about how people shouldnt have feel unsafe or abnormal. Especially since a young queer
individual shouldnt have to go through life thinking they dont have a place to call home. In
some third world countries, there isnt a place for an LGBTQ individual to call home because
theyre still in the process of developing a more diverse society. In the video, they talk about
how important it is to have space where you can be yourself. Being afraid in a space can affect
the outcome of ones identity because they tend to hold back their true self. This is why queer
spaces, like explained in the video, are important because one doesnt have to confine.
Trying to fit in can be depriving to ones individuality. Being anywhere can be influential
to anybody in the LGBTQ community. Being labeled, harassed and having religion strictly
forced on an individual can really affect their lifestyle in the worst way possible. They grow up
to think that they are always in the wrong and that they have to change who they are to satisfy
others. What they dont know is theyre helping others find comfort being in the LGBTQ
community. No one is never really alone. There is also someone else in the world that is in the
fight with you.

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Works Cited
Groner, Rachael, and John F. O'Hara. Composing Gender. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Levithan, David, and Billy Merrell. The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing about Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities. New York: Knopf, 2006.
Print.

Nash, Catherine Jean. "Trans Experiences in Lesbian and Queer Space." Canadian Geographer / Le
Gographe Canadien, 55.2 (2011): 192-207.

TED. The danger of hiding who you are | Morgana Bailey. Online Video Clip. Youtube, 23 Jan.
2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.

Queerest of the Queer. Why Are Queer Spaces Important? Online Video Clip. Youtube, 4 Sept. 2015.
Web. 19 Oct. 2016.