Rowan Blanchard, a praised teen feminist and quite a great actress, was speaking at We Day a while back. She says something along the lines of “Gay is not and never has been an insult.” I remember sitting there, staring at my laptop and having the urge to applaud, right there in the middle of my bedroom sometime at night. I couldn’t have said anything that would be as well said as that statement was.

Now, I go to a religious school. Some may think we’re all rule-abiding happy people. And yes, that’s the case for the staff, but the kids my age (I’m in middle school) are not what you picture when you picture private school students.  We wear uniforms and smiles on the inside, but that’s just what they want you to see.

As a girl with short hair (when I say short, I mean SHORT), I never got picked on or anything up until this year. In elementary school, life is easy and no one really cares. But then, as you grow older, you learn certain terms and the meanings behind them. Here, at my school, gay people were treated as sinful or gross, even by my teacher. Not many people sided with me when I said I had no problem with them. The Bible is something that can be interpreted, and if they chose to take it in a “Gay is not Okay” way, then so be it. I can’t waste my energy trying to convince them otherwise, as I had tried before.

This was okay until people started insulting others with it. Like me. “You’re hair is gay!” or “You’re gay!” or even “That’s gay!” and soon enough, I caught on, saying it myself. I knew it was not getting my point across, but I didn’t stop. I’m ashamed, even if the word was very small. It was still a term used for many people who I truly want to be welcomed just as much as anyone else is.

Reminder, this was at a religious school. It must be way worse in other places, but here, it feels like I can’t even say the word in front of my teacher. It’s a shameful thing to know gay people, especially of your age. People think your gross if you even support it. It’s this way of thinking that has so much homophobia in the world. Yes, I do think everyone has a choice to believe. I am religious, but I also believe that EVERYONE should be treated fairly and with respect. I’m not telling anyone how to live their life. I’m telling them that it’s our words, actions that could do great things for the world or terrible ones. What if you had that power to say something and have it go viral? You’d choose your words wisely, but we should do that in all situations. To promote diversity, inclusion, and everything in between. To not drive others out due to fear, anger, sexism, racism, etc., but to live as human beings, coexisting in a world that criticizes as it’s job.

One day, I’ll look back at how this seventh grade year has been changing. I learned how one word, as simple as three letters, can be used in different ways. To describe, to define, to insult. But it was never meant to insult. We made it that way. We can make it different too. We can be the change the world’s been waiting for. When we’re sitting here just waiting for something to happen instead of actually doing that something! Let us be the ones to rule out the uses of terms for insults and everything that comes with negativity.

If you skipped this whole article, at least read this: whenever there is love, there will be hate and whenever there is hate, there will be love. So choose love.