Rachel & Mia
From the very beginning, even as a young child, I had this habit of challenging things. I just never believed in this idea that you had to follow this set of rules in order to be a good person, especially because a lot of times that set of rules didn’t make sense to me. My whole family is not really like this, but they encouraged me to always ask questions and be controversial. That’s how we roll.
When I met Rachel at Marlboro College it was really only because we were both from Milwaukee and everyone kept telling us we had to meet each other. Marlboro is really small. Little did we know we would become best friends, and we are still really close today.
I don’t really remember if I ever didn’t know she was gay. I think that my being just about the only Black woman on campus probably helped me to accept Rachel for who she is. I mean, someone’s sexuality is only part of who they are. There is so much else that goes on in a person, there are so many things that make you feel comfortable or make you want to hang out with them.
Sometimes people are threatened by our friendship, or they think that I might be gay just because my closest friend is a lesbian. I think that’s just insecurity on their parts. They just need to get over it. I don’t really feel like I need to defend Rachel’s and my friendship because it’s really more about that other person not being accepting of everything we love about each other. Our senses of humor are exactly the same, we are open to meeting new people and learning new things, and a lot more.
Rachel is like a part of my family now. She has taught me so much through her work against oppression of all kinds. I think we’re both better off because of our friendship.