Esperanza

"Lucky for me, I ended up with a brother whose favorite color is pink. Painting toenails is so much more fun when its pissing off half the nation."

I went home this past weekend to visit my family and best friend. I had a wonderful time. I’m happiest when I’m with my family, they understand me. They’re a group of people that are wired to love you forever. I know that they will always be there for me, through thick and thin my family has always had my back.

I’m especially close with my baby brother and have been since we were little babies. He is two years younger than me and my best friend.

He's is senior in our small hometown high school. He is 6’4’’, an amazing soccer player and football kicker, intelligent, hilarious, handsome (if I may say so myself) and recently crowned PROM KING. (A big deal in our small town and I was so proud of him!!!:)

After saying our hellos, everyone was doing their own thing. My little brother and I began looking through travel maps. (We’re going backpacking in Europe for two weeks. I’m so excited!)

In the middle of our search I remembered an idea I had.

Me- “Micah, can I paint your toenails pink and take a picture? I wanna put it on facebook.”

Micah- “Sure.”

He didn’t even blink. He just agreed to it. He wasn’t afraid of having his huge ass feet covered with pink toenail polish, or even having a picture posted of it on facebook. He wasn’t scared of having friends make fun of him, calling him gay, or other homophobic slurs. He just said yes.

And after I explained to him the meaning behind the picture (The J. Crew advertisement that has recently made a big ruckus, he was actually excited to take the picture.

Here's a link if you want more info about this ad:

http://www.change.org/petitions/thank-j-crew-for-its-heartwarming-pink-toenail-polish-ad


I was so proud of him.

He used to use gay slurs frequently and made fun of the ally activities that I participated in. He made jokes about me and about different members of the LGBTQ umbrella. I would have talks with him about using the word gay and his other harmful actions, and he would just blow me off. We grew up in a small town with VERY unwelcoming people. LGBTQA people are NOT supported in our community and even though our family is very welcoming, he's been surrounded by people like that since he was 5.

But in the past few months, as our conversations have gotten deeper and I’ve been sharing some of the links and information I’ve gained in Peers for Pride, he’s grown up sooo much.

In the society we live in it’s so hard to stay positive sometimes. I feel like 95% of the time all we speak about is negative news events. Sometimes I just can’t deal with it anymore. I just want to be happy for a few minutes.

We must take time in our hectic, stressful, and sometimes negative days and be grateful for the wonderful things we have in our LGBTQA community. We must appreciate the small achievements we make each day as a community. I don’t suggest ignoring the negativity, because for it to change, we need to acknowledge it. However, I don’t want out world to be filled with triggering events.

We are a community full of wonderful people, all with wonderful things going on in our lives. And we deserve to be happy.

When I was home, I was helping my brother fill out his college roommate application. One part asked if he preferred the sexuality of his future roommate, he clicked no. He now even posts positive links and statuses about the LGBTQA community in his facebook.

What a small moment, but what a large gesture. My little brother is growing up. He’s becoming a loving and understanding ally. I can’t wait to see what the next few years bring him and words cannot express how proud of him I am.