1st Place, Diversity Coverage
2021-22, Division 3, News Writing
By Myah Shelton, Sophia Vidergar & Mia Huey
Focus
Midland HS
Students who are members of the LGBTQ+ community have faced everything from homophobia to harassment. Despite this, they have been able to find confidence and strength in themselves and their sexuality.
Hannah Admire (she/they)
Two sixth grade girls walked down the hallway, hand in hand. Two boys approached them, pushing one girl aside. They shoved the others’ books out of her hands, and began to kick and beat her, as the books scattered across the hallway.
A nearby teacher offered little sympathy: “Serves you right.”
When this happened to Hannah Admire, she was growing up in Virginia. Even though Admire was met with hostility from her old classmates, she has had the pleasure of growing up in a very open and sex-positive household. With many of her family members also being a part of the LGBTQ+ community, Admire has always felt a sense of inclusion and confidence.
“Majority of my aunts and uncles are gay,” Admire said. “I have some transgender women in the family and so all of their courage and confidence passed on to me.”
Admire was also met with a variety of emotions from her loved ones she had come out to. Her older brother, who was the first person she came out to, had nothing but love and support for her. The second person was her childhood best friend who she had known since kindergarten. Their friendship remained the same until a rumor started going around saying that Admire was being predatory towards her, which dissolved their friendship. Another person Admire opened up to was her grandmother over this past summer. Instead of hearing love and acceptance, as she had from most of her family, she was faced with homophobic slurs and bias.
“Don’t come out, if you know it’s dangerous,” Admire said. “It’s okay to stay in the closet just a little bit longer, even though it kind of sucks.”
Kyle Bacon (he/him)
Senior Kyle Bacon opened his phone to a Snapchat from a fellow classmate. Instead of seeing “streaks” or a filtered selfie, the Snapchat contained a death threat. The person also made it a point to tell Bacon they knew his deadname, and had plans to expose it to the entire student body.
As a transgender man, this is just one of the many times Bacon has had to face adversity and hostility. Due to the homophobia and transphobia he faced at his old school, Bacon transferred to Midland High during his sophomore year.
“I’ve been targeted in public because I was trans,” Bacon said. said. “I’ve been harassed in men’s bathrooms before. We go through so much crap all of the time because of it.”
Before coming to Midland High, he also faced many obstacles in his academic environment. Bacon brought his girlfriend at the time to Homecoming before transitioning, unaware that after he would be targeted by his homophobic peers. The day after the dance, he watched as pride flags were ripped down and defaced in a homophobic opposition at his school.
“That’s something that from a young age you have to be subjected to: hoping you don’t get beat up for holding hands with someone,” Bacon said.
The day Bacon legally changed his deadname, he brought cupcakes to his Meistersingers class, throwing a makeshift party on what was dubbed as “Kyle Day.” When his court appointment was over, Bacon took his friends out to celebrate.
With all the paperwork and transferring he would have to go through, Bacon knew he needed to get his name changed before it became a larger problem.
“I was really glad that my parents let me do it because it was something that was really important for me to get done before I got my driver’s license,” Bacon said.
Over the course of his middle school and high school experience, Bacon became more comfortable with his gender identity and sexuality.
“It’s what makes me unique, and I’m proud of it,” Bacon said. “It’s something that I didn’t want to hide anymore.”
Helen Haight (she/they/he)
“Dear Jesus, please let me not die in Hell.”
Junior Helen Haight, then a middle schooler, had just successfully “prayed the gay away” at the altar of her church. Or, so she had thought.
Now, Haight can proudly say that she is a lesbian, though her journey to both realizing this and accepting it wasn’t an easy one. Having been raised Catholic, the majority of Haight’s experience coming out was to herself, rather than to those around her.
“It’s really hard,” Haight said. “Coming to terms with something that you’ve been raised your entire life is bad or, or wrong.”
While in middle school, Haight participated in theater and found herself befriending people in LGBTQ+ community for the first time. Because of this, she began educating herself about the LGBTQ+ community, and even debating her own sexuality.
“There was this one girl in theater, and I was like, ‘Wow, I have a crush on you.’ So I was like, ‘Oh, I’m bisexual,’” Haight said. “It didn’t really process to me at the time because I had kind of forgotten about the church at that moment. I was like, ‘This is cool, this is new, this is exciting.’”
Not long afterwards, Haight attended her regular youth group, and this particular week’s lesson almost entirely consisted of negative statistics and messages about the LGBTQ+ community. Haight felt that the presentation was encouraging them not to be gay, and further pushed the message that homosexuality is a bad thing. Haight’s devotion to the church led her to decide, after this lesson, that it would be safer for her to continue on as if she was straight.
“This was my entire life,” Haight said. I volunteered after school at church, I was in special programs, I would memorize Bible verses, I would teach the younger people about Jesus, I would go out on mission trips. I was so heavily rooted in the church, so I would just take everything that they said without any second thought.”
It wasn’t until in quarantine during 2020 that Haight was finally able to accept her sexuality. After first coming out to a close friend and her brother, she began coming out to her other friends, and then her parents, which was more difficult.
“It’s not a totally new concept to them, but it’s hard to grasp,” Haight said. “As the time started to change, I’m very lucky in that my parents could put aside a lot of the misconceptions they had because they loved me.”
Because of the huge role religion had played in her life, Haight is no stranger to homophobia, both internalized and from external sources. Over the years, however, Haight believes she’s learned to handle it in a way that doesn’t take away from her happiness, and hopes others can as well.
“There comes a point where I cannot spend every single waking part of my life being angry about this, and about the unfairness, and the hate,” Haight said. “I can’t do that, that’s not who I want to be.”
Maria Toner (she/they)
After going back and forth for a few years, junior Maria Toner now identifies as pansexual. Since coming out can be an extremely hard thing to do, Toner is lucky in that they’ve been able to find several inspirations and influences along the way.
Did you have a moment you realized you were not straight?
“I was watching Orange is The New Black and Stella was introduced; immediately, I was just kind of like oh, ‘I like you.'”
Who is your biggest inspiration in the LGBTQ+ community?
Harry Styles. Watching him wave the flags at his concerts makes you feel like you’re worth something.
Do you have advice for anyone in the LGBTQ+ community who is still in the closet?
Reach out to someone that you know would support you and that you’re comfortable with.
NW-16. Diversity Coverage
This story tells about the lifestyles, challenges and potential of those from a diverse background. It will cover not just the plight of the subjects, but may also look at how subjects deal with their diverse backgrounds and how diverse backgrounds are dealt with by others. The term “diverse” is not limited to ethnicity and may focus on a wide range of subjects, depending on the author’s story angle.
Judging Criteria
- Topic relevant to the school or students and reflects lifestyles, challenges and potentials of those from a diverse background
- Sharp, attention-getting lead grabs reader and arouses curiosity
- Shows thorough reporting skills through research and interviewing
- Effective use of facts/quotes from both primary and secondary sources
- Balanced, fair and sensitive presentation
- Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly
- Proper diction/grammar; use of third person