As October starts, so starts LGBTQ History Month. Over the past week, I've interviewed Purdue students who identify as LGBTQ+ and asked them about their experiences on campus and to portray their LGBTQ history at this university. I wanted to use this platform to let these individuals express their voices in whatever way the decided, so read these students' experiences below.

Andrew, Senior

"My experience at Purdue as a gay man is interesting. I'm in engineering and I don't feel comfortable coming out to my peers, and in fact I'm only out to a few people on campus. Although it's intimidating to come out, I haven't really faced discrimination. My classmates do make homophobic jabs, but I wonder if I were out whether they would make those comments. It's scary, because they could be more nice about it or they could make those comments to me.

When I was a freshman my roommate and I really despised each other, but we both ended up being gay. I went to this party and the only people there were gay, and I saw him. At first I freaked out because I thought he would use that knowledge against me, but then I remembered the only people there were gay, meaning he was too. We avoided each other all night and tried to make each other jealous, but then at one point he just came up to me and said let's stop playing games. So we went back to our room, and freshman year was a mess but now that we're not living together we're doing pretty okay. We're in the same major, have the same friends, and are involved with the same clubs so our affair is kind of fun but also a little sad. I wish I could come out, but I'm just not ready for that yet."

Anonymous, Junior

"I identify as genderfluid and pansexual, but I'm still pretty in the closet. I come from a very Catholic, Colombian family and I wouldn't say they have gay people or whatever, but they just wouldn't understand. I like dressing femininely and masculinely, and I can do that here on campus. At home I have to dress the way all my sisters and aunts and mom dress. I cut my hair short freshman year, like a pixie cut, and they made fun of me for it. So there's not exactly hate, but a lot of misunderstanding and almost bullying. I told one of my sisters and thankfully she's kept it quiet, but she almost blackmails me with it.

I know for some people they can't be out on campus, but I hate going home because I can be myself so much here. I do get harassed a little, like when I dress very androgynously people ask me if I'm a boy or a girl, and when I dress femininely I get harassed in general for being a biological girl. Otherwise, I'm very comfortable here at Purdue. I get the occasional sexist comment or joke about being Latinx, but it's still more accepting than home."

David, Senior

"I identify as a male, but I've not really found a sexual orientation that fits me. I've found some that come close but none that really define how I feel. Purdue has helped me to be comfortable in my identity. Surprisingly the mix of ultra-conservatives and supportive peers has helped me encounter lots of situations where I hear both ends of the spectrum. Being able to feel comfortable expressing myself and knowing that I have support. I've not experienced discrimination, and my experience at Purdue has overall been amazing. The support that the community within Purdue has is amazing."

Rebecca, Sophomore

"My experience at Purdue has been scary, but like not in a fatal way. It's just I'm a townie and I know my family won't be the most approving of me being a genderqueer lesbian, and there's so many people here that know me and my family. I'm too afraid to get on tinder or go to the LGBT safe spaces and what not, and so I feel stuck. My freshman year a girl from my high school who also goes here and knows my family saw me on a date with a girl and questioned the hell out of it, and I knew she didn't exactly approve, so ever since that's kind of scared me. None of my friends here know, only a few friends. I wish I knew more about the LGBT safe spaces but I'm just not sure how to go about it, because I hear so many good things about the LGBTQ center and stuff and there's so many organizations, but I'm afraid people might see me there and tell me family. I think once I become more confident in myself then my time here will be more comfortable."

Anonymous, Freshman

"I'm a trans woman of color but nobody knows. I luckily am able to pass in public, and by 'luckily' I mean that could be life or death for me. People like me get beaten and murdered all the time, so there's no way I'm telling anyone. It kind of sucks because I basically can't date or at least I don't feel comfortable or safe enough to do that, but I can survive. Right now I'm focusing on me. I understand that there are numerous resources here, but I'm doing pretty okay for the most part. I have friends, and I think one day I can tell some of them I'm trans, but right now I don't want to.

Being trans is one thing and being black is another thing. I appreciate the way Purdue has tried to be inclusive of trans people, but I don't feel that from a lot of other students. I see transphobic comments online and sometimes even hear them in person. One time some guy said 'you can always tell when someone is transgender' while sitting at the same table as me, unaware of the irony in his statement. He also went on to say how it's gross, but that's something I can ignore. Also being a woman of color, I probably hear more racist comments than anything, and that's harder to deal with. Again, right now I'm focusing on me."

Olive, Junior

"So I'm intersex, and I often actually do let people know about it. I use any pronoun, but mostly feminine pronouns because I am feminine. My genitalia is not entirely female or male though, and when I was born I looked like a normal, baby boy. When people realize I didn't choose to be this way they understand a little more, and sometimes their idea of gender and sex changes. So whenever I see an argument where someone says there's only two genders because there's only two sexes, I gladly step in."

Anonymous, Senior

"My experience at Purdue has been pretty okay being a queer woman. I never officially came out exactly, but I didn't go out of my way to hide my sexuality. I guess now that I'm in a relationship with a girl I'm a bit more...butch I guess, but I just really like it. I'm very involved with LGBTQ organizations and I visit the center often, which is a really great place just to hang out. It's weird, though, because it seems like I have different identities and none of them overlap. Like I have my LGBTQ friends and involvement, my marching band friends and involvement, and my liberal arts friends and involvement. I've tried intersecting these identities, but it just hasn't work. I don't know if it's just my situation, or if that's something that Purdue could work on."

Ryan, Senior

"Purdue has not directly impacted my identity. I think there was a fear that it would, that was my problem. At least when I first got here there wasn't that encouragement like 'you're gonna be safe.' I think the freedom of speech thing that Purdue has helps now, though. The reason why I say indirectly is because when I lived in the dorms - I think the RA's get trained better now, but it was a common occurrence to hear 'that's so gay' or even the f-word. For me it was always more because I wasn't out when living in the dorms I never really fought against it I just kind of rolled my eyes.

At first I didn't think that my LGBTQ identity had affected anything, but when I started to think about it, I hadn't really come out until I was a junior in college. If I really think about it, my freshman and sophomore year are kind of nonexistent because there was a part of me that was under the table. Out in lecture and even in my organizations I wasn't as outgoing as I probably should've been. For instance, who you know me as now is nothing compared to what it was. So I do think it has affected me, I think I'm more confident now. I think my LGBTQ identity has made me grow, has made me mature a lot faster. I seem to look at things more broadly and I'm really good at being empathetic because of being from a minority group."

These narratives were from Purdue University students who willingly agreed to be a part of this article. Stay tuned for more Purdue Portraits and feel free to share your experience below!

(Photos by author of article, not all photos depict the people interviewed)