Project Equality

Ready Set

May

"Ely seemed very enthusiastic about her presentation for today," Lisa noted, sitting beside me on my couch as we waited for the rest of Club to arrive.

It was August fifth, our first August meeting, and Ely said that she had a new idea, a project, for Club to take on over the next two years. I was assuming that it was going to have something to do with the new Club that followed us on Tumblr, but other than that, I had no idea. Since we were preparing Club for more members, though, those last meetings would be intimate - originals only. We all had something to contribute, presentations to make, and it would all lead our Club into what it has become.

"Are you ready for your presentation?" I asked.

"Of course, May Bean! So much of this has to do with our future, not just the Club, but that's important too. What we're leaving behind when we graduate has to be stable enough to keep going. As we move forward, we have to keep making a distance- "

"Perhaps you should save the speech for the meeting, my love. I would not want all of that passion wasted on only an audience of me."

The other seven joined us - including only Andrea and Lauren, outside of the seven originals. Andrea was becoming an equally fundamental part to our group as Lauren had since the eighth grade, so we could never truly have a meeting without her. Jacob and Viktor, on the other hand, were not exactly vital to a successful meeting.

"Hello, everyone," Ely began, pulling out a laptop and opening up a PowerPoint. "I've made a brief presentation for what I've been referring to as Project Equality. It was honestly the best I had. See, GSA is a wonderful, along with anything similar, yet our little group has something special, you must admit. And, as it isn't really regulated by a school or anything, it leaves us to do basically whatever we see fit. Project Equality is to bring together teenagers across the country looking for exactly the thing we have here: a little support group.

"It's not just LGBT issues, but all areas of relevant social change. For so long, teenagers don't get a voice, but I think that our Club is an excellent way to change that. A group where we get to have our own voices, opinions. One day, when we're older, after college, we take this everywhere we possibly can. I don't think I'd have ever been this confident with myself if Lynn never found me, if Amilia never founded us. We all need an Ami in our lives, you know?"

I looked up at Amilia, she glanced at me, and we shared a knowing look. It was true. We all needed an Ami in our lives. Without her, I may have never started speaking to people, I certainly would not have ever met Lisa, and I would not have had any of my best friends.

"So, you're suggesting this becomes exponentially bigger than it already has?" Jenna asked.

"Yes," Ely said. "Remember a million years ago when we were just the six of us, and you were reluctant to let even Lauren in?" Of course I did, I was the very one who was against it. "Once we let other people in, though, this group got to become so much more than some friends hanging out. It became purposed."

"I agree," I said.

"That's why I want to open our arms up to as many confused or hurting teenagers as possible. We all have something that we can lead the way with, from broken homes to the identities it's harder to find 'validity' for to girls who are told they can't and guys who are told they're not man enough. We can help educate people, no matter where they're coming from. Ami understood what each of us needed. Now it's time to pass it on." Ely sat back down.

"I love it," Lisa squeaked. "I mean, love it. I actually have something similar, though a bit more present focused." She stood in the front of the room, and began unfolding three pieces of cloth. One was the ace pride flag, the second demi, and the third was greysexual. "The ace spectrum is difficult for a lot of people to understand. It goes from, 'So, you reproduce by yourself?' to, 'Well, you don't know that yet, you're too young,' to, 'Well of course you're only attracted to someone you know really well, everyone's like that,' to, 'That's not really queer,' or, 'You're just lying to yourself, humans are sexual beings.'