Sophomore Taylor Elks is doing all he can to contribute to the current explosion of Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer acceptance. Elks is a transgender boy striving to make his surrounding environment more familiar with the topic of gender and sexuality through a Gender and Sexuality Acceptance club he is attempting to develop with his twin sister Tristyn Elks. Elks is well versed about the importance of getting students to understand the “ins and outs” of gender and sexuality for the sake of those who feel lost when it comes to interpreting the LGBTQ community.

“There are a lot of kids who are struggling with the fact that they don’t know their gender or sexuality or they are struggling with the fact of coming to terms with it,” said Elks. “Possibly struggling with family or friends who don’t accept them as much, and we want to be there for them and to accept and educate people about it.”

For Elks, the reality of being a statistic of the LGBTQ community is all too familiar. Elks goes in depth about the negativity revolving around the acceptance of LGBTQ people.

“On my way here, someone yelled out, “homo” to me from their car,” said Elks. “As much as sometimes I would like to get angry,…I will only kill them with kindness. And by explaining it to them if they don’t understand (LGBTQ people), because a lot of people don’t like it because they don’t know (about LGBTQ people), so once they know, people tend to be more caring or careful about what they say.”

Even though the club isn’t 100 percent up and running, Elks has already recruited several members through his talk of acceptance and education through social media. Elks’s friend Katie Flor was one of the first people to get involved in the idea of the club.

“I wanted to be a part of GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) not only to show my support but to show that I’m accepting to everyone’s sexuality and gender,” said Flor. “I’m glad we are making the club inside of school to create a little community for those kids that are just looking for someone to guide them.”

Students that join this club must be aware that this topic is still controversial and will be the subject of many conflictive conversations. Flor has many ideas about guidelines that the club should make upcoming members aware of.

“I know that there will be hate towards the club, and we can only hope it won’t be detrimental,” said Flor. “We will have a no harassment policy in the club for everyone to follow simply because this must be a safe place for its members.”

The current perspective on LGBTQ people, genderqueer, gender fluid and the rest of the community is changing every day. Elks tries his hardest to keep up on news about the LGBTQ community so that he can formulate an educated guess about what the future holds for them.

“I don’t see it changing anytime specifically soon, but it has changed a lot over the past years,” said Elks. “Even as I grow older, I notice more acceptance and people are starting to understand. I don’t see it happening soon, but I hope at least at the end of my lifetime it gives people the right to be out in the world without being judged.”

Elks is trying his hardest to make the lives of fellow LGBTQ members as easy as possible in an environment where acceptance is not always reciprocated. Elks plans on communicating this strive for acceptance through social media, flyers, and the Gender and Sexuality Acceptance club. Elks says he knows that many people are not in favor of trying to generate an understanding with LGBTQ people, but that the future seems to be getting a brighter.