Mara laughed, a soft, warm sound. “Good. Because I haven’t worn glitter since 1992, and my back hurts just thinking about a parade.”
As Leo walked to the shelf, he noticed a small bulletin board covered in pins, flyers, and handwritten notes. One, in shaky but proud letters, said: Rough Fuck Shemale Vids BEST
Leo, a seventeen-year-old who had recently begun to understand himself as a trans boy, stood outside its window for the first time. The window displayed a rainbow flag, but also a smaller, softer flag: pink, blue, and white. He’d looked up what that one meant. It was for people like him. Or at least, he hoped so. Mara laughed, a soft, warm sound
“Then, one day,” Mara continued, “a crack appeared in the wall. The orchids and wild grasses started pushing through. They called themselves the ‘gay and lesbian’ community. They fought for sunlight. But soon, they realized the wall wasn’t the only problem. Inside their own clearing, they were still telling the violets they were ‘too purple’ and the ferns they were ‘too bendy.’” One, in shaky but proud letters, said: Leo,
Leo felt a shiver run down his spine. “So the trans community isn’t separate from LGBTQ+ culture. It’s part of its backbone.”