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Sophie Freeman sits at her desk on Monday, May 20, 2024, at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia. “I think if I could give some advice to someone who was questioning and younger than me, or maybe something that I wish I had heard when I was in that space, is that no matter what you're feeling, it is OK. And, it might change, and you should still feel that way. If you're feeling something, you're feeling it for a reason. There's nothing wrong with you. There's nothing different about you. You are OK. Like, you are good. As long as you're being kind to other people, you'll be OK,” Freeman said. “Humans are so multifaceted. I can be queer, and I can be a good teacher. I can be queer, and I can like traditionally feminine things. I can be something and also lots of other things. My whole personality is not who I love, though I love to talk about it, and I love her dearly. But, I am made up of so many wonderful qualities. We all are made up of so many wonderful and different qualities and interests and skills and abilities. And, I just hope that someone who looks at me knows that my queerness isn't all that I am, though I love it dearly. But, there's more to me. And there's more to everyone than that.”
Bailey Stover/KBIA
Sophie Freeman is a queer woman who grew up in a “very small, rural, conservative town” in the Missouri Bootheel. She spoke about exploring her sexuality during the COVID-19 pandemic and unlearning harmful LGBTQ+ stereotypes.
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