Maxwell

Junior and Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA) president Maxwell Vere, who is as homoflexible, polyamorous and transgender, feels that most students are only tolerant of his LGBT identity rather than accepting.

Vere faced discrimination when he came out his freshman year.

“When I first kept coming out to people, they were really awkward about it and teasing and shoving or making jokes,” Vere said.

One student bullied Vere for a year and a half about his LGBT identity.

“[He] would say ‘I wish you were still a girl. You looked prettier as a girl’ or those sort of things or like ‘I can turn you back straight and female,’” Vere said.

Even now, Vere still faces bullying. He overheard other students this year calling him a “faggot” and a “tranny” behind his back in the lunch line.

Vere believes that though most teachers are accepting of the LGBT community, they can sometimes be part of the problem by not taking a stand if they see other students getting bullied.

“Some [teachers] can be quite ignorant to it especially if they see people getting picked on for it,” Vere said. “I’ve seen people get picked on directly in front of teachers, and teachers just walk by. I think that’s a problem in general, not just about the LGBT community”

Overall, Vere urges his fellow students to be more sensitive when it comes to someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

“Stop trying to make jokes about people just because of something like that they’re romantically interested in the same gender or they identify as not what they were born as,” Vere said.