Jerry's Story

We at 703 Equality want to thank Jerry for his honesty, time, and willingness to put his experience out there for others to read.
If you are a Montana University System LGBTQAI or Ally student, staff, or faculty, we want to share your story, too! Email us at 703equality@gmail.com

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Jerry Wachal, 2013.
Jerry is a junior at the University of Motana studying journalism. More of his musiings can be found here, at http://mylifetowelcome.blogspot.com/

We all have something that defines us. Whether it be red hair, being a girl, a boy, having big ears, small feet, weird fingers; for me it was being gay. Something that has taken a lot of time to accept in not only myself but the others around me. Now I'm not here to bore you all with my tragique life of being a lonely gay boy in small town Montana. That's not my story, that's not what defines me. What defines me is the fact that I've grown from being a lonely gay boy in small town Montana, and only hope for others to grow as well.

By grow, I mean open up. Sure, growing up gay in a part of Montana was difficult, but I didn't let it get me down. I had been called names from the very uncreative fag, to the still very uncreative (however, a bit more creative than just the normal fag and queer,) Fairy Jerry. I had letters stuffed in to my locker telling me how what I was doing was wrong, and how I'm going to hell. I even had a pair of scissors thrown at me from a bus. Which I'm sure is not their actual use, except for when trying to hit queers on the side of the street.

However angry these things made me feel, however hurt I was by the bullying and tormenting of my high school peers, it only made me stronger. Cliche, I know, but it is  cliche for a reason. I went through some dark times back in high school, not unlike every other teen, especially one's struggling with finding themselves in a confined environment such as the one I was in. Yet, at the end of the day I still had amazing, supportive friends that helped me through a lot of it.

I didn't ever really get to experience much of the 'gay lifestyle' until I moved to Missoula to attend the University in the fall of 2011. Before, the closest I got to it were late nights of watching RuPaul's Drag Race and a Skrillex concert. It was not until I went to my first Lambda meeting where I felt that I had a place to feel accepted. I wasn't seen as weird, instead I found that most of the people there were more weird than I. It was releiving to know that I could geek out with people like me.

For the first time in my life I didn't have to be worried about finding friends because I was too flamboyant; I now had friends I was completely comfortable around and it was wonderful. It was all that I had been waiting for.

It was because of the University's Lambda Alliance that I got to see that, going back to the cliché's, it does get better. I didn't have to worry about being alone for the rest of my life. I had hope for my future now that I had friends that I could talk to about certain stuff. I had friends who looked out for me if there was a guy interested, and they showed me the way.

Living in Montana should be that way for every young Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered or Questioning adult. The Montana University System should be a safe place for all young LGBTQ adults, and they should see that they can be accepted no matter their sexual orientation or preference. It's true what your elementary school teachers always said; It's what's on the inside that counts.

So that's it. No sob story, no my life sucked because I was gay, no traqigue ending. Only a young adult who wants to see others flourish in a community like the Queer community in Missoula, to realize that life is… eh… not that bad, but it's better when you can be you.