Introductions- Lottie
Hello everybody! You can call me Lottie. As I am not totally comfortable with making videos, for now, I'll be sharing my thoughts on the same topics covered by the other youth through our blog. In this post, I'll be covering the 4 general topics that Alex did in his video (which you can watch on our YouTube channel). Those topics are:
A) How I identify
B) My connection with the LDS church (and religion in general)
C) Where I am now, coming out, and the support I have, and
D) My other hobbies/interests.
A) How I identify
In one word: Queer. I'm a girl who is attracted to other girls, so you could also call me gay or lesbian, but queer is the term that I feel most comfortable with.
B) My connection with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Until I was about twelve years old, I was raised as a Mormon. At that point, my family found some issues in the church and decided that it was time to quit attending. Lucky for me, I hadn't started questioning my sexuality until a bit before that, so it wasn't too much of a conflict. Although I've left the church, it still heavily influences my life; both my parents come from Mormon families, and my community is overwhelmingly LDS.
C) Coming out and the support I have found
The first time I came out was during my freshman year, through a text message to one of my closest friends at the time. She had just finished telling me about her first kiss, and had moved on to hounding me about what boy I had a crush on. Eventually, I got tired of all the questions and told her that I was only into girls. For about six months after that, she was the only person I was out to. But, over the course of my sophomore year, I came out to just about all of my closest friends, with minimal negativity.
In September of my junior year, I finally came out to my immediate family. It was no surprise when they were all supportive. This past October, I came out to my extended family. So far, it has all gone smoothly for the most part.
The biggest support I have in regards to my sexuality are my friends. This is because a lot of my close friends also identify somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, so they can understand and relate to a lot of the things I struggle with as a queer person. In addition to that, I've found a huge online community of people like me that has been very helpful.
D) My other hobbies and interests
Outside of working on this project, I have a lot of other hobbies. I enjoy listening to and playing music; I play guitar, piano, violin, ukulele, and some percussion instruments. I'm part of the National FFA Organization, and I'm an officer in my school's chapter. I'm also a puzzle enthusiastic and a lover of turtles.