community, Triangle School, teacher support, advocacy, unsafe, friends, queer
Daya: Also, we had a friend, like, from the beginning. Like he had gone to Triangle School, we’re still close friends with him and um, uh, I remember like, (to Jae) he just knew we were gay right? (Jae nods) And he just came up and like, whispered, he just came up and was like, “Hi, like, I went to Triangle School!” (Jae chuckles) And I remember like, we didn’t even ever go any further into that. Like I never even, like, asked him about Triangle School. It was weird like, it was like, we were just like, in the present after that. We were like, “Ok, we’re going to be friends now”--
Tara: Right.
Daya: because yeah. Like, he was a real protector. Like people stole from Jae at one point and he like um, uh--
Jae: He freaked out.
Daya: He freaked out at them.
Jae: With a chair! (laughs).
Daya: Yeah! Which was really good because—(laughs).
Jae: I mean, I wouldn’t have done anything really, I would have just been upset--
Daya: Exactly. I mean, I was just like so, we, both of us were just like, “Oh my god, he’s just like here!” Yeah, it was horrible.
Jae: Yeah, that’s the thing, too, right? As much as the school was great, we did have some issues--
Daya: Issues where we had to like, protect ourselves in really unsafe ways--
Jae: which, which went in hand with, you know, the fact that the teachers didn’t really know how to like handle the like, situations like ours--
Daya: Right.
Jae: like, you know, being queer at the school. They hadn’t really experienced that.