Taylor Stoddart is a senior at the University of Minnesota and is a part of the inter-college program, where she is studying entrepreneurial management, product design and criminal justice. Stoddart, who identifies as a bisexual woman, said she was nervous to come out but was very happy with the response she got when she did.
“After I told two of my closest friends, for Pride Month they got me this coffee mug and the handle is a rainbow. It says, ‘You make the world a better place.’ I drink my tea out of it every day. It’s nice to feel accepted because for so long, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be. So just having that little moment of seeing ‘You make the world a better place’ by being exactly who you are is kind of cool.
I’ve found a sense of community, especially with friends. When you find people who will be OK with whatever you are and whatever you choose to be and whoever you identify with, you don’t have to walk on eggshells around people anymore. It’s feeling like you can be yourself and they’re just happy to have you there and being in those communities that are accepting.
Whether it’s with my sexuality or my opinions or my feelings, I don’t feel like I have to walk around that anymore. I feel like you can’t really experience that joy when you’re not feeling like you can be yourself and when you feel like you kind of have this thing that’s a part of you that’s something that you don’t want people to know.
Before, I feel like I couldn’t fully experience joy because there was a part of myself I felt shamed for and that I hid for so long. I couldn’t fully feel joy when I wasn’t fully feeling myself.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview conducted by Hanna Van Den Einde.