[ID: A digital colorful comic by @chickenhoops. The backgrounds are black with white text. The comic begins with the text, "When I was a kid, I was a very hateful person." The main character is shown as a simplistically drawn person with a devil tail and a head made up of red cloud-shaped scribbling.
"I believed LGBTQ+ people did not deserve rights, and were mental sickness caused by abuse." A hand holds a lit match up to a ragged Progress Pride flag.
The MC is shown between two larger figures with white, spiky star-shaped heads. The larger figures wear yellow, and all three of them have their eyes closed and hands clasped together in prayer. "Perhaps my hatred came from the community I was raised in." The MC muses, "Or the media I consumed." They sit on the floor in front of a TV, from which come spiky purple speech bubbles.
"Or even what I was told by family and friends." The MC stands between two larger figures, one with a red spiky star head and one with a red scribbly cloud head, presumably their parents. Both parents have devil tails and say things in purple speech bubbles. "I did not help that I didn't grow up around openly queer people." The MC stands facing away from the viewer, looking down at an open fire. "At least not until high school."
"During my sophomore year of high school I started to befriend openly queer students." The MC stands between two people who are their height. The one on the left has a green scribbly head, with an inverse triangle tail tip. The one on the right has a blue circle head with a circle tail tip. "I learned that these teens were just like me. They had their own struggles and dreams." The MC stands with the blue circle friend, saying things in purple speech bubbles. "Though I still did and said very insensitive things around them and in my daily life."
It was only until my sexuality came to light that I truly understood the queer struggle." The MC stands facing a mirror. A diagonal shaft of light in the mirror highlights part of their body, illuminating part of their head as blue. "I had always been the very thing I was taught to see as below me, the thing that was sin, the thing I ignorantly hated.
"What was worse was almost everyone I grew up around was now a potential danger to me." The MC sits curled up in the giant hand of a red spiky star headed person, who seems to watch them intensely. "The closet was the only place I felt safe.
"I kept my feelings to myself and never told a soul." The MC stands facing the side. In their head are a few dull pink hearts. "I was ashamed. I was scared. And I had a good reason to feel this way. Even to this day, I'm somewhat hiding from the world. It took years to heal from the internalized phobia, and it'll take longer to forgive myself for my phobic beliefs." There's an open door, behind which is a close up of a red face on a single, watching eye.
"LGBTQ+ people do not want to indoctrinate your kids. We want to be treated with love and care like you." The next few sentences switch from white text to colorful, each sentence a different color to make a rainbow: "Educate youth on the existence of queer folk. Teach them to respect others no matter their identity. Tell them it's okay to be queer no matter the age. Protect queer youth (and adults)! Fight against bigotry. Celebrate pride like it's your last month on Earth." The MC stands holding a Progress Pride flag. With them is a person with a pink scribbly head, and they're both blushing with a few hearts between them. "Happy pride month" is written in all caps, rainbow text with a heart at the end. End ID]
