“At the young age of 13, I realized I related to a lot of them and that some of those labels may apply to me. “Seeing my favorite online artists talk about their own experiences made me resonate with them,” said Bustamante. She says reading books and graphic novels that featured queer characters was essential to discovering their gender identity. “I wasn’t into ‘girly’ things at that age, and sometimes I didn’t even like being called a girl,” said Bustamante.Īlthough she feels confident in her gender identity now, Bustamante remembers how isolating it felt to be a queer student in high school. It wasn’t until they were educated on different gender identities that they felt seen. The book featured characters that not only looked like them, but also echoed the emotions and feelings Bustamante felt on the inside. As a senior at Florida Gulf Coast University Jules Bustamante uses she/they pronouns, but Bustamante remembers a time when they were 13-years-old, standing in their media center in search of one book: “Simon vs.
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