Ever since I was little, I’ve always loved strawberries.

Even now, it’s still my favorite fruit. Which, of course, it is, no other fruit can even come close, I don’t care what anyone says. Watermelon? Blegh. Kiwi? Ew. Pineapple? Just no. I do, however, have a...unique way of eating them, though. When I was a little kid, I used to eat them…

Whole.

I’ve kinda progressed past that point, but every once in a while it’s just interesting to eat the leaves, too. However, baby Nate didn’t realize that this wasn’t "normal" per se. So, one day as I was waiting for my mom to pick me and my sister up from school, my sister’s friend offered me a strawberry. And who was 6 year old Nate to tell her no, so of course, I took the strawberry and ate it. Leaves and All. To which she started crying. Uncontrollable sobbing. And when my mom arrived to pick us up she ran over to her and started saying “I’m so sorry, I gave Nate a strawberry and he ate the leaves, he’s gonna die-” at this point, my mom cut her off and said, “Honey, don’t worry about Nate, he’s queer like that.”

This was the first time I had ever been called queer by someone, and even if my mother didn’t know it at the time, this set up a precedent that I felt constantly out of place. And, as I later found out, I guess my mom was right about one thing. I am queer. Surprise surprise, I’m a 17-year-old gender-queer gay person who uses they/he pronouns. My mom really hit the nail on the head for that one, didn’t she?

The Strawberry Philosophy springs from this moment, and is a platform for Queer Youth to share their own stories.