Being A Member Of A Discourse Community Essay

Being a member of a discourse community means you are apart of a group where you share the same values and/ or beliefs of either a small amount of people or a larger group. Everyone is apart of a discourse community whether they know it or not. Be it your family, religious affiliation, or just a small book club. Whatever the group is or what they are about it is what makes you a unique person. I personally am apart of many discourse communities. But some of the ones I have been apart of for a while now have really left a mark on my life. These discourse communities that I am apart of are the LGBT+, Theater, and Drag Queen communities. All three of these have single handedly had a huge part on making the person that I am today and how accepting I am of diversity.
As the being the confident human being that I am today did not just happen magically over night. Growing up gay in the world we live in today isn’t as bad as one would think it is. Yet when you come from a catholic family like mine it can possibly make things a little bit more complicated. One moment that I remember the most is when my cousin voiced

her opinion on gay men. If I am thinking correctly I remember that it was thanksgiving and we had just finished our big family lunch that we always do. We were all just lounging around waiting for my aunt to cut up her “homemade” pies, even though she can’t hide the Marie Calendars boxes that well. While she was cutting my family was sitting around the TV slowly trying to nurse our stomachs back so we can be prepared to eat more food. As we were sitting around we came upon the topic of gay marriage. Now I do have a lesbian cousin so my family is fairly accepting of LGBT+ people but not to the fullest extent. Yet, while we are talking about things my cousin, who isn’t gay, said that she would never want a son who kisses other guys and does things like that. Hearing that at a young age is what made me think that being gay isn’t the most appreciated thing.
A small thing like hearing that probably wasn’t the best thing for me. For as I got older I wasn’t really sure on who I was and didn’t really fully understand thing. Another instance that this had happen to me was in middle school. It was after an a assembly that we had. I was one of the sixth grade “leader” I guess you could say and we thought it would be funny to dress me up in all girls clothes. But I’m not sure if that was the best idea for me. Now everyone thought it was hilarious but when the whole thing was over it was a different story. I was walking down the hall afterwards and was being attacked by people. They keep calling me horrible names and just being rude towards me. But what I think made this stick with me was when one of the teachers at the school heard a kid call me a fag and then look at me and go “Don’t listen to them”. This made me realize that being gay isn’t an acceptable thing. But it also made me think that I don’t have anyone to help me with all this and that I am alone in this world.
These two experience really solidified the fact that being gay isn’t as great as one would think. At these times I was really learning about what was right and what was wrong. It never crossed my mind that I was “different” from everyone else and that it was actually okay to be different. But soon things would change and I would learn to be accepting of myself.
As I got into high school I joined many clubs. Yet one of them that I joined made me realize a lot about myself. It was joining the theater department that I learned a lot about myself. Now I don’t attribute everything that I have learned to theater but I do thank it for kind of creating the person who I am today. It made me learn that I wasn’t different at all and that I am unique.
I never thought that I would ever be casted as anything in a show.

Now in elementary school though I had my one and only lead as Swingle Cringle, but that was all the way back in the fifth grade. Which means I have gotten a little rusty over time and also means that I have one of the worst show resumes someone has ever seen. But that didn’t get me down. I still auditioned like everyone else but much to not only my surprise but also my moms surprise I was casted as Crony 1 for Beauty and The Beast but I was also casted as the only male lead dancer. This means that I got one whole line; “Crazy ol’ Maurice!” but it also means that I was good enough to be with the top dancers in the show. This really made me see that I am special and that I have some sort of talent. Yet it was something that I learned about within theater that truly helped me with my

confidence.
While being a theater kid I was told about a show called Rupauls Drag Race. This peaked my interest and so I watched one episode. After that one episode though my whole world was flipped and was changed forever. Rupauls Drag Race is like Americas Next Top Model but for drag queens. But this show really changed my life for the better because I still wasn’t the most confident kid out there. Now yes I have gotten to parts in Beauty and the Beast but I still haven’t truly learned who I was as a person yet. Yet, drag really did teach me that.
The first time I ever did drag was for a retreat we had for student council. Weird I know because it has nothing to do with theater but it was the only time I could really do this. By now I basically have an obsession with drag queens, or just drag in general, and a lot of my friends find it interesting too. At this retreat though I knew it was the time to let my drag wings open and soar, even though I was just a little queen and didn’t fully understand things still it was still nice experience. At retreat we have a little “talent show” where we all dress up and make silly dances to songs and just honestly make complete and utter fools of ourselves. So this one I decided it was time to “unveil” this magnificent creature that I have had hidden for a while now. As I did my makeup I slowly but surely thought to myself that I was looking like the real deal. Or as the queens call it “being fishy” which just means that I look like a real girl and not a boy in dress. Now really though looking back on it I looked just like myself but with a lot of horribly done makeup on my face and some nasty old extensions in my hair to make it look like a wig. I looked like a crusty mess when I was all put together but that wasn’t the point. It really gave me confidence in being myself and not letting anyone take that from me. Everyone at retreat told me that I looked really good and that I was “hot”, I don’t know what they were seeing, but it still made me think that I was actually good and had some sort of talent. That moment though I thought that I was actually being the person I wanted to be. Not a drag queen but I was just being myself, which was really a game changing moment in my life.
Now being apart of a multiple discourse communities that have shown me who I truly am as a person has been really important in my life. They all have taught me to have confidence in myself and bring the person I really wanted to be out. But it has also shown me that I can successfully be able to join an academic discourse community. Not because I am insanely smart but because I have a lot of confidence in myself and I know that even if I fall thousand times I will be able to get back up and push on through. Whether the seas are smooth or rough, the things that I have learned through the discourse communities has really shown me that I can not only just join an academic discourse community but I can make it in any that I see fit for myself. All in all being apart of these different communities has really helped me in life.