On Tuesday, January 10th we had an interview with Suzanne Cohen about her experience being a gay woman, and about LGBTQ topics today. We asked her the questions about her life, and her opinion on LGBTQ issues in our school. Suzanne answered all of our questions diligently and she gave us a lot of very useful information. Suzanne first thought that she was straight, she had boyfriends but it didn’t feel right to her. As she got older and into college, she started to feel that she was gay. She found out who she really was, and she was proud to be a lesbian. She came out to her friend and they asked her if Suzanne had a crush on them. That is definitely not something you ask someone who just came out to you. Suzanne has faced discrimination, but that hasn’t stopped her from being with her wife who she really loves. Her mother was fully accepting, but her brother and dad were a little uncomfortable. They made jokes about her being a lesbian, but they soon came around and realized that Suzanne is truly happy. She made the GSA in the middle school because she felt that there needed to be a space like that in the middle school for people to be comfortable as who the are. She wanted kids to feel safe, and not want to hide anything. Suzanne also thought is was important to talk about LGBTQ rights and equality in the middle school. She is an LGBTQ rights activist and has been to many marches for LGBTQ rights. She is a very supportive teacher and would help anyone who needs to find themself. Suzanne feels that the middle school is doing a good job on supporting and raising awareness for LGBTQ rights. People have assumed that Suzanne was straight, so she has to continuously come out to every person she meets. She said that people sometimes don’t understand the LGBTQ community so they discriminate. Also, there are many stereotypes towards gay people that Suzanne faces a lot. For example, in the relationship someone has to be more masculine, and someone needs to be more feminine. But that’s not true at all. Suzanne thinks that it’s hard for people to come out, but with the right support system kids can be more comfortable and safe.