Pin-up

Wearing a rainbow pin is about more than just stating your orientation

Show your support. Photo by Angela Gzowski

First, let me say that I’m not gay — even though I wear a rainbow pin on my book bag. This idea is easy for my gay friends to understand, but less so for my heterosexual friends.

This may seem like a funny way to start my explanation, but it’s really the root of the issue. I have a fairly large rainbow pin that I wear on my book bag. A friend gave it to me after a DalOut/King’s LGBT event. Ever since, it has been on the bottom left corner of my book bag, and has been a surprising conversation point.

So try to imagine my face when someone beside me on the bus asks – out of nowhere – if I’m gay. I answer “no,” and ask why they would ask that. They point to the pin with a confused look on their face.

“Why would I have to be gay to support gay rights?” I ask.

They shrug, with no real argument at hand. “But aren’t you afraid you’ll mislead someone?”

Yes, someone said that to me. I would have laughed at this person, but I was too surprised. Someone legitimately asked me if I was concerned that I might lead a gay person to think that I am a gay, and thus confuse them. I was baffled.

Do I have to have served in Afghanistan to support my troops? Do I need to have lost a friend or family member to cancer to run for a cure? No. So why should I have to explain my wearing of a pin that supports gay rights?

Someone wise once said to me that homosexuality isn’t about having sex, it’s about being free to love who you will. How could I not support this?

That’s why I wear my pin, proudly, despite the dumb questions I get because of it.