Dear Cis People

Dear Cis people

Why do you care

Why does my gender matter for our interactions

I don’t walk up to you and ask

What is your gender and follow up with

No, I mean, your real one

My pronouns are enough

Dear Cis people

Stop trying to insult me

Stop assuming you know who I am

You’re just embarrassing yourself

Dear Cis people

You’re right

I’ll never be a boy

And I’ll never be a girl

But if you really want to know

I’m nonbinary 

And you’re an idiot

Dear Cis people

I’ve heard it all

You can’t hurt me

Your insults are like my little brother with a nerf gun

Your bullets bounce right off 

and all you’ve done is fanned a flame you were trying to put out

Dear Cis people

You’re the reason we take so long to find ourselves

I spent my whole life being told who I was 

Nobody ever thought to ask me who I wanted to be

So it took years of silence and doubt

For me to find out

Dear Cis people

Why does it take a pandemic for me to understand who I am

You have gaslit me 

Into faking my own identity

And forced me to learn alone at home

Dear Cis people

Why do I have to prove myself 

Your turn

When did you know you were cis

When did you know you were straight

Is it because your parents got divorced

Is it because your dog died

Is it because you ate too much glue when you were 7

Is it because someone told you it was cool

Dear Cis people

Why do I have to prove myself to you

Why do I have to prove myself to you

Guess what

I don’t

Dear Cis people

Why do you stare me down as if daring me to talk to you

Then turn down all my thoughts just because they’re new

I don’t want to talk to you

Dear Cis people

You should know

it’s just a phase

You’ll grow out of it

I promise

Dear Cis people

Dear straight people

I’ve never asked you to understand me

I asked you to respect me

Dear Cis allies

Dear Straight allies

Thank you for trying to understand me

Thank you for respecting me even when you don’t understand me

I appreciate you

Dear society

I know you remember Breonna Taylor

What about Sophie Vasquez, Tiffany Thomas

Alexus Braxton, Dominique Jackson

Your ignorance and negligence is disgusting

We are stuck at home, where the only thing to do is watch the news

And still you chose

To let their stories go unheard 

Dear society

My existence is not a bold statement

It’s not a strong political choice

You’ve taken my identity and turned it into a debate topic

You’ve pulled it apart so you can decide whether it’s convenient for you

just like you do

With everything that’s different

Dear Society

You push away everything that’s different

Dear Society

Everyone is different

You push everyone away

Dear Queer People

Remember to fight for those who are different 

Remember everyone is different

Fight for everyone