ISABELLA FERRARI | STAFF REPORTER

For senior Tessa Sommers, relationships are a little more than black and white.

Sommers is a bi/pansexual and genderfluid person.

Senior Tessa Sommers

This means an individual can be attracted to anyone regardless of gender identity and they do not identify with any particular gender.

“I did not realize I was queer until halfway through freshman year,” they said.

Being queer was not always so clear for them.

“I’m surprised it took me that long because often the times people will say, ‘Oh, I knew when I was in kindergarten,’” they said. “But no, it took me a bit.”

But their first queer relationship made that realization more concrete.

“It sort of validated what I was feeling,” they said.

Sommers said being a queer person made them more open-minded.

They said there needs to be more work on transgender rights.

My.butler has an area to change your sexual orientation. In the selections, transgender is an option.

However, transgender is not a sexual orientation. It is a gender identity.

For Sommers, their queerness is only a small part of their identity. But it opened their eyes to activism in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

“It was sort of like a gateway drug into social justice,” they said.

Their queerness helped them find a community they felt welcome in.

“It allowed me to get into this community that I really care about and it’s been a big driving force in my life since I came out,” they said.

But their queerness is not the most important part of their identity.

“I don’t want to be [identified] as a queer person,” they said. “I am a person who is queer.”