My MGLCC Story

During the past 2.5 years, I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of the most wonderful people I have ever encountered in my life. Most (certainly not all) of them are friends I made through some type of connection to the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center.

The first day I went to MGLCC, I was a nervous 16 year old who had no idea what my sexuality was. All I knew was I felt like I needed to seek out people who had positive feelings toward LGBT people. (Since then, I've come into my sexuality, and I'm VERY proud to be a straight ally. Nowadays, I have so many gay friends that I sometimes forget that I'm straight.)

It was a cloudy mid-September day. The moment I walked into the building, I felt this weird sense, and it occurred to me that even though I had never been to this place before, I felt so at home there. I met three people I will always love - Will "Ouiser" Batts, Autumn "Mama"/"Audy" Falconer, and THE Rohbi. I don't remember much else about that day, other than leaving with a smile on my face and a lot of relief. I knew from that moment there were people who would always care, regardless of whatever I ended up discovering about myself. I felt comfortable to continue growing into myself as a person.

I dove into things head first that year - youth nights, rallies, encouraging people to vote for equality, vigils for those killed in hate crimes, etc. I just started meeting all of these incredible people. I had friends coming out of my ears - wonderful, fabulous friends.

Along the way from that first day until now, I've slowly picked up an entire chosen family. The ones I didn't meet at MGLCC/through MGLCC/through someone I knew from MGLCC I most likely only met because of the influence MGLCC had on my life.

Looking back on the creation of this family makes me a little emotional, because I never could have imagined having this whole family of crazy, loving, dramatic, supportive, sweet, beautiful people in my life when I was walking up the steps at MGLCC the first time. Now I can't imagine my life without every single one of them in it.

Life is challenging, and I've been going through a lot during the past several months. However, I haven't forgotten how blessed I am to have this amazing group of friends. They've been with me through the best of times and the worst of times.

MGLCC saves lives every day. I'm still convinced they saved mine. Without them, I'd most likely be so deep into a depression that nothing could ever pull me out. I hope everyone will consider donating to MGLCC - every time you donate, you're saving a life. Go to mglcc.org to donate or find out more information about Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center.



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If anyone homophobic is reading this, let me make a few things CRYSTAL clear...

1) I don't care what hateful comments you have - keep that shxt to yourself.
2) Before you even TRY to start some mess - no one at MGLCC ever told me what to think. I formed my own opinions.
3) You mess with my friends, you mess with me. DON'T test me.