A Contemporary Martyr Ellen Cassidy

"If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door." Harvey Milk

I am a martyr. I am passionate. I recognize the fact that I mean so little, but can do so much. I came across this quote in June of this year, and it brought tears to my eyes because I could see myself in it. I, like Harvey Milk, have a great story to tell. My story didn't end with two bullets in the head in San Francisco's city hall; in fact, it hasn't ended at all. I live every day for a reason, a reason I gave up everything for.

During my junior year of high school, I wore a rainbow scarf to school everyday. It functioned partially to warm me during passage between buildings on campus, but it was also my "gay pride flag" as my friends called it. Everyone at Notre Dame, my former school, knew I was out and proud, and I was beloved by my peers and teachers not in spite of it, but because of it. Notre Dame was a loving and nurturing environment in the de facto sense, but it was about as resistant to de jure change as any institution on the planet. I started a Tolerance Forum, a discussion group devoted to addressing issues of social and political tolerance, but the club was never mine, it was a method of...