Being a Queer woman on Spelman’s campus forces one to bear witness to a lot of unforeseen situations behind the dorm walls that would not be picked up by my heterosexual counterpart. Yes, getting into an all women’s campus was supposed to be my holy grail, and obviously seen as one of the main reasons I chose this school. Wrong! Since the public may know my sexuality, a lot of unrelated myths get tied to my name. Just how the jokes go...lesbians chose Spelman to be surrounded by beautiful women, many make their college decision based on the choice to express their freedom. So I pose this question to my beloved peers: Do you really know where your roommate is when they’re not in the room?

College is the time in our lives where many of us are far away from our parents’ or guardians’ supervision. We feel a sense of new found liberation walking on a campus miles from home. In college, your possibilities are endless. Untamed, we may stay out until 4 a.m. when the house rules were to be in by midnight. We may hang with friends our parents would have deemed unacceptable. We make many of our choices in these four years because we are now open and ready to experience the world for ourselves. Sexuality can now be explored away from the people who gave us hard outlined constraints of what we should like and bring home to marry.

I personally watch my fellow classmates utilize this time to truly see what is for them and what is not. That quiet girl in the back of your class may be fighting herself to muster up the courage to say hello to you today. That girl that smiles and compliments you on your outfits all the time maybe trying to gauge your reaction to determine whether you are open to her or not. I would like to say it is OK to have a girl crush. It is also OK to not identify as Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual. And to my out lesbian sister or out gay Morehouse brother, if you are feeling attraction to the opposite sex, do not feel like a hypocrite. Talk to that lovely lady or man that has become the profound apple of your eye. This is the time that you don't have to answer to anyone. Identities were pushed on us by societal norms. Sexuality is fluid my friend. If you know you are only attracted to a particular sex, please know this is not meant as a form of persuasion. If you know, you know—but if you don’t, don’t be shy.

We fear the judgmental grunts and looks that passers-by will give. In reality, college students are so into their own lives, they are not examining your every move as hard as you think. That exam they have to pass to make the Dean's list or just to pass the class is what's really prevalent on their mind. We overanalyze scrutiny, we can become so scared to live that we unconsciously choose to not live at all. So to my people who are on the fence, or even to my lady who is peeking through the peeping hole, take these four years of liberation and run with it. You will be surprised how many open-minded students roam beside you on your campus. Solidify who you are, and what you stand for. Take these four years to find yourself. Let us remember: societal standards are forever changing. So let's take this time to breathe and live our own lives.