Majority Minority

Coming Out

Lars' POV

It has always been my dream to go to America. Not just because it's a wildly different culture and vibe than Samoa, but because I wanted to get away from my family.

I left Samoa in September with my family thinking I was a cisgender, heterosexual boy. And the beauty of going to an accepting international school was that as soon as people found out I was genderfluid, they changed my name and pronouns on the records.

So here I was, sitting in Grace Khatri and Evie Shubert's dorm room, my hands shaking as I was about to call my mom and break the news to her.

"I know I'm gonna regret this." I said. Grace nudged me and said, "You got this. And if all else fails and you get kicked out, you can always come to London and move in with me. I promise."

I nodded and then my mother picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi Ma...it's L-Lucas." I said, choking out my deadname. I could see Sunny Kobayashi and Grace cringe next to me and then my mom said, "Oh, what a nice surprise! What do you need?"

"I'm sorry...I waited until I was in America to tell you this because I was worried I would get kicked out...but...I'm genderfluid. My name is Larson, or Lars Sua, and I use he/they/she pronouns." I said.

"That's not a thing." my mother said. To be perfectly honest, that was the response I was expecting. "Lucas, you're just confused."

"Mom, my name isn't Lucas anymore." I said.

"I'm getting sick of this crap. Lars, give me the phone." Grace said. Without even waiting for my response, she took the phone from me.

"Hi. Oh, I forgot you have no idea who I am. My name is Grace Advika Khatri, and I am the most raging bisexual you'll ever have the unfortunate pleasure of encountering. Hurt my best friend Lars, deadname them, misgender them ever, and I will be angry and I have an entire accepting extended family in India to back me up. Do you want my entire extended family in India to back me up? No. That's what I thought." Grace took a collecting breath and continued.

"You do know the real reason Lars wanted to come to this school so badly wasn't because he wanted to see America, right? They wanted to come so she would feel accepted. Seen. He wanted a place where they could finally come out and meet some accepting friends, and it just so happens the friend group she's in right now is a bunch of LGBTQ+ people of color. And you know what? He told me that they smiled for the first time in a while at this school. Laughed. Had fun without the fear of being discriminated against because of who she is. And I'm not talking about racism, cause obviously, that's not a big deal back home and not a big deal at this school, the majority of kids here aren't white and the ones that are, they're super accepting. My point is, if you want your child to act the same way at home that he does here...I would suggest you change your attitude. Because my family is perfectly willing to take them in if you don't. And that's just as a last resort. I'm usually not this put together in these types of situations, but I know for a fact that screaming over the phone from all the way in California to get my point across? That's going to get me nowhere. So I'm trying to reason politely with you. Can you please, pretty please with sprinkles on top, accept your child for who she is? Because me, Sunny, Evie, Mia, even my girlfriend Harley who is completely deaf and hasn't heard Lars speak one word, loves him. Platonically. And we all accept them. She's our best friend, and especially my best friend. So...can you please learn to be more accepting, for his sake and ours?"

Dead silence. Grace put the phone on speaker and then my mother's voice poured though the phone. "Can I speak to Lars, please?"

Lars. My mother used my name.

Grace passed me the phone and my mother said, "Lars, this...what you told me is going to be a big adjustment for us, and I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I...I may make a few mistakes along the way, but Lars...I love you. Ou te alofa ia te oe, laʻu tama faʻapitoa."

Child. She used child rather than son.

"Mom...faafetai lava, Tina."

"Does anyone know what Lars is even saying?" Mia Fernandez asked. Sunny shrugged and said, "Beats me."

"I'll translate for you guys later. Bye Mom. Oute alofa ia oe."