I didn't know my history
My textbooks were of cis- straight men
Pushing a narrative down my throat
One telling me I never existed
Freak, Fag, Tranny
The books said
We were invisible

I didn't know of Harvey Milk
As a kid I ran down the halls
The halls of the building he was killed in
I just assumed that gay rights started a few years before 2015
That the fight was only for marriage equality

Aids was something that theatre kids sang about in productions of RENT
Or something the assholes in the halls laughed about
"Don't use that water fountain, you'll get aids"
It was a joke in sex Ed

Being queer was the butt of school yard taunts
Fruits, Fags, Dykes and Trannys
The only successful gay we knew was Neil Patrick Harris
And if you mentioned the word transgender people only knew it synonymous to freak

I didn't know my history
My textbooks were of cis- straight men
Pushing a narrative down my throat
One telling me I never existed
I was void of the story of my identity
What was I really made from?

I am made of Stonewall and heels thrown
Compton's cafeteria
The fight against Anita Bryant
I am Golden girls reruns, Boy George and Original Plumbing magazine
The passion of Silvia Rivera, Miss Major, Harvey Milk, Marsha P. Johnson and all those before me rushes through my veins
I come from underground clubs, underground scenes
from hidden dreams and broken down closet doors
Bathhouses and drag shows, and ballrooms
I am from the UpStairs Lounge fire, from Matthew Shepard, Brandon Teena, and too many lives lost
I come from saying her name, taking to the streets
from riots, screams and fighting
I am the remembrance of the past and the hope for the future
I come from all those before me who never got to see what I see

For me this is my history, what inspires me, motivates me, and pushes me forward