My soft launch as genderqueer!

I subtle-y came out on Saturday. It was the annual Pride dance party at a local bar where me and all my friends hangout. A friend throws it and DJs the event every year and they give the door money to RAINN's queer advocacy programs.

I officially decided to own my queer gender a little over a month ago. So, needless to say I've been pretty darn excited for my first Pride Month as officially queer. I went to the party wearing a pair of padded tucking underwear with one of my favorite pairs of Victoria's Secret hipster briefs over that. No one saw that of course.

But what they did see was the t-shirt I made just before heading over. Using my muscle memory from all the Hanes t-shirts I customized with Sharpie marker in my days as a young punk rocker, I made a shirt that reads: "Please keep explaining why my gender offends you; it's somehow making me even more queer."

(The semicolon is an extra little "F- you" to people who should read books instead of banning them.)

Only one friend asked me directly if the shirt was more than just me being clever and I came out to them. But everyone else saw it and I'd say a good chunk of them read the underlying rhetorical value of it. I also spoke passively and *half* jokingly about it being "my night."

When I got home, I felt so fulfilled, I posted a photo of me in the shirt on my Instagram.

If anyone likes the statement, by all means, make one of your own. I'm not gonna be selling them or copywriting it. I'd rather be compensated by knowing the message spreads far and wide.

In solidarity,
SandBook <3