Should it matter who I love?

Contributed by Elizandra Martinez, President of Eros (Gay-Straight Alliance) and Active Minds (Mental Health Advocacy) at
Regis University, Denver, CO

Dominique de Menil said, “What should move us to action is human dignity: the inalienable dignity of the oppressed, but also the dignity of each of us. We lose dignity if we tolerate the intolerable.”

My senior year in high school started strong. I was captain for varsity athletics in basketball and soccer and was looking to lead my teams further than the previous seasons. I also had the opportunity to serve my school as Student Body President, and I was tied for first academically in my class. My senior year all changed in the matter of months. Many can’t wait until their 18th birthday, but I was one of those who were dreading it. After that day, my life would be forever changed. Now that I was considered an adult, the parents of the girl that I was in a relationship with now had the law on their side. Her parents took the matter to the school and told the administrators that we were not allowed to have contact. We happened to be on the same basketball team, so of course we would talk. After we had contact the administration told me that I disobeyed authority. Over the course of the next two months I was suspended from school, got kicked off my sports teams, had a suicide attempt and spent a night in jail due to a mutual restraining order violation (which was dismissed), all because I was a lesbian. Then the school took my responsibilities of student body president away they said, “we cannot have someone like you leading our school.”

I am not alone in experiencing a desire to die from the pain that intolerance causes.

Did you know?