“How silly this plump little rat looks,” I thought. I took this photograph in my college research lab, laughing at how it smooshed itself against the plastic. It was cute! But later this image resonated with me. It is contorting itself reaching up, isolated in a clear cage surrounded by other rats in their respective cages. It can see out, just as we can see in, but it can’t escape. It is examined and scrutinized, only seen as a data point.

Queer people often exist in an environment that confines them. They may contort themselves in order to conform or to escape it. Queer people may be pathologized or politicized, neither of which permits living as they are intended to exist. In the system we are in, we are also under surveillance and scrutinized about how we behave. This makes us devoid of purpose and autonomy.

Even if visible, we are not free. We must remember that surviving is not the same as living. How many queer people are still stuck in cages?