Kellen Sapp is a young transgender woman who grew up in Columbia. She spoke about the existence — and resilience of the queer community in the Midwest.
Alphabet Soup shares LGBTQ+ Missourians’ stories through portraiture and personal narratives.
Kellen Sapp: This summer, I got to work with a bunch of 16-year-olds from all over Missouri and a lot of them were queer.
And there was queer joy in me seeing these younger people knowing who they are, knowing truths about themselves, that I did not know at that age, and getting to celebrate it and being honest about it now. That was perfect.
Some of the kids were not able to be out to their families or their schools, but they were honestly and openly queer in the community we had, and there was joy in the interactions we had where they got to be honest about themselves in the only place they ever had been.
And, sometimes, we cried about that — I cried about that. They cried about that. We cried about it together — how much hurt they feel at home and yet, in this place, they felt safe to share who they were.
But even though there was hurt behind those tears, those were tears of joy because being queer is a wonderful thing, and we knew that, and we could share in that.
Even though there are a lot of things about being queer that kind of suck — the way that the world treats young queer people is not a party all the time, but there is always joy in that connection, in the connection to other people experiencing the world like you are, or in similar ways.
I live in Oklahoma most of the year — not necessarily, like, a state that, you know, brands itself as being real accepting.
But I love Oklahoma, and I believe that it is important for me to be there. Not that I'm trapped there, but like, I like it there, and I want to put in the work to make it a better place.
I have found acceptance in Oklahoma — and some people think that sounds crazy. Some people are desperate to get out of Oklahoma. Some people would never go to Oklahoma. I love it there. I want to make it better.
I want to take the acceptance that I felt and I want to make it known to the world. I want to make it known to young queer people living in Oklahoma that there is love in that state, that there is love in the Great Plains, in the Midwest, in the South — we are not a lost cause out here.
