Coming Out Day: “It’s too much work to not be who you are.”

Growing up bisexual, Kora West ’20 thought something was wrong with her. “I didn't know exactly what the label was, because I grew up in a smaller town, so we never talked about, like the LGBT community or anything,” said West. When she developed feelings for women as well as men she had no LGBTQ+ people to look up to and validate her feelings. It wasn’t until she transferred to the Iow...

Coming out as bisexual brought Aislin Craig ’21 freedom.  “When I was closeted, I was kind of like a lot more shy, and kind of more afraid I guess, to be who I really was, but then when I came out I felt a lot better,” Craig said. When she attended school in Williamsburg, IA, Craig didn’t feel like she could be herself.  “I was trying to convince myself, ‘No, this isn�...

Today Michelle Kim ’20 is an out and proud gay woman, but she went many years without knowing the community she is a part of existed.  “My cultural background was the main reason for not being exposed to gay people. Me growing up Korean was a big factor because my parents socially [were] really conservative. They aren't anymore, but they were really conservative and thought that kids didn�...

When science teacher Michelle Wikner was in highschool she would not have been able to share her story the way some students at West are able to today. At the time she didn’t know the name for what made her feel different than others.  “I didn't really know what it was, and this would have been 1980s. Society was very different on their views on this at that point in time... I didn't even real...