Reconciling My Personal and Academic Worlds
One summer morning, still half-asleep, my mom started a conversation that would linger with me long after. She told me about a student in her class who had openly asked her opinion on people who identify as LGBTQ. Her response was both honest and unsettling: she said she had no strong opinions about the community as a whole but admitted she wouldn’t be able to accept it if someone in her immediate family identified as LGBTQ. She explained that it would hurt her feelings and mental health.
What she didn’t know was that I’m part of the LGBTQ community myself. While she’s aware of my academic interest in LGBTQ health—perhaps that’s why she wants to bring this sensitive topic up with me—I’ve always kept my identity private from her. Her comment made me reevaluate our relationship in terms of whether or not I should share the deeply personal part of myself with her. In that moment, I tried to engage her in a conversation. I asked why she thought having an LGBTQ family member would hurt her. Her response revealed layers of deeply ingrained societal influences. Much of her reasoning came from narratives she had absorbed from media—particularly algorithm-driven short videos targeted at middle-aged women. These clips often frame LGBTQ identities as contradictory to traditional family roles, such as children providing emotional and financial support to their parents in old age. As she explained her perspective, I felt an invisible wall grow between us, one built by misinformation and societal expectations.
In academia, I immerse myself in research on LGBTQ health, advocating for inclusion and addressing health disparities. Yet, in my personal life, I often find myself navigating a delicate balance—embracing my identity privately while concealing it to maintain familial harmony. It also brought to light another critical divide: the evidence-based discussions I engage in within academia and the real-life conversations I have with people whose opinions are often shaped more by misinformation than by scientific research. Academic spaces often promote thoughtful, evidence-driven conversations, but outside academia, I see how narratives shaped by misinformation often carry more weight than facts. How can we bridge this divide? How do we translate academic ideals into conversations that resonate with people’s lived realities? These questions remain unanswered, but they drive my journey toward understanding and change.
