Concept
Education is powerful, but it also has its limits.
We have often heard discourse of "let kids be kids" and that informing kids about the existing and rights of LGBTQIA+ people is an attempt to influence them.
As a counterargument, I have created this poem, which shows that not being informed about something does not make it non-exist. If I never learnt about gravity, would I be able to float?
The answer is no.
Growing up, I did not have real representation of neurodivergent and queer people. That didn't mean I wasn't different.
The only difference it made is that I felt different and more alone. I thought there was something wrong with me, without even understanding what being gay even meant. I just knew I wasn't the type of person that my society would accept, especially as I was attending an all-boy Catholic church school.
I was once a kid too and I deserved to feel like I belonged. Let's not prevent education.
Diseducate (The Poem)
If not teaching kids about queerness
meant that they wouldn’t grow queer,
then I wish I skipped Physics
so that I could float
without gravity holding me down.