All the Colors on the Spectrum Matter: Michaela Moore and LGBTQ+ Student-Activism at Fayetteville State University
Student-activist Michaela Moore. Photo courtesy of Michaela Moore.
By Jaimee A. Swift
Michaela Moore (she/her/hers) is a leading a LGBTQ+ student movement at Fayetteville State University to ensure all colors of the spectrum are represented and included at the historically Black university.
Michaela Moore’s interview is a part of ‘Voices in Movement’ February 2020 theme, #MakingBlackQueerHistory: Black LGBTQ+ Women and Non-Binary Student Activism at HBCUs. To read the descriptor, please click here..
Michaela Moore is leaving an indelible and undeniable footprint of transformative change at Fayetteville State University, a historically Black university located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which so happens to be Moore’s hometown. A 24 year-old master’s student majoring in business marketing, Moore is the president of SPECTRUM, Fayetteville State’s premier and only LGBTQ+ student organization on campus. Mobilizing students across genders, sexualities, nationalities, and majors, because of Moore’s leadership, students at Fayetteville not only have a safe space where they can be their truest selves––they also have a community and family to lean on, learn, and love when others on campus and even their families do not affirm them.
Hosting various educational events on LGBTQ+ inclusion, social justice movements, national politics, and more, Moore is working to ensure that SPECTRUM is not the only safe space for students at Fayetteville but is mobilizing a movement so the entire campus is safe for all those who attend.
I spoke with Moore about her work with SPECTRUM; her experiences as a transgender woman at an HBCU; why creating community is important; and her thoughts on the future of LGBTQ+ inclusion at Fayetteville State University.
Do you mind sharing with me a little bit more about SPECTRUM?
Michaela Moore (MM): “SPECTRUM is the LGBTQ+ organization at Fayetteville University. We focus on inclusivity and equality for all of our students who affiliate themselves with the community––whether they identify with parts of the community or they are allies. We also have something called ‘Safe Zone’, where certain professors on campus are ‘Safe Zone trained.’ That means they know how to be emotionally and mentally supportive to our students. If professors have the ‘Safe Zone’ sign at their door, that means they have an open space and students can go there and speak freely, and feel understood. That is really awesome. The main ‘Safe Zone’ area is in the student center. That is the hub. Everyone under the umbrella hangs out there. It is really great because when I first got here, SPECTRUM was so small, including myself, we had five members and the room was never used. Over the years of me being a part of SPECTRUM, as a member and as president, it has doubled and tripled.”
“Not everything we do will be geared towards the LGBTQ+ community because I really want us not to viewed as just the ‘Rainbow Club’ or ‘gay committee’––I want us to be humanized.”
“Currently, for the spring semester, we are working on our third annual Pride week, which is so much fun. Last year, we had Amiyah Scott from ‘Star’ come and speak during our Pride week and she was our keynote speaker. She was amazing, as I knew she would be. My mission as president is to have more students be more active in the community. I am working on plans for us to do community service. Not everything we do will be geared towards the LGBTQ+ community because I really want us not to viewed as just the ‘Rainbow Club’ or ‘gay committee’––I want us to be humanized. I feel when we focus just on LGBTQ+ rights––which are very important and we definitely need to focus them––but I don’t want us just to be known for one thing. I want us to be known for helping women who are from battered homes and for helping the children’s orphanage in the area. There are several ideas I see for us but the main one is getting out in the community and doing more. With the election coming up, I definitely want to do an election campaign and educational seminars for the whole student body, so they can know who is running for local and federal government. That is a little about the organization and what I see for us in the future.”
In your regards to LGBTQ+ inclusivity, what have your experiences been like at Fayetteville State University?
MM: “When I transferred to Fayetteville, I was not open. I was very secretive about my trans identity and I didn’t want anyone to know. Genuinely, I am very lucky for the way I look and in the way I sound because it is very rare that someone is able to tell that I am trans. So when I got [to Fayetteville] I decided I was just going to go to class, get my work done, and then leave. I was not really talking to anyone and I decided to stay by myself. Mainly, I did that out of fear. When I got to campus, unfortunately, a lot of the negatives outweigh the positives. It is getting better, especially with the work I have done, but it is very patriarchal first of all. There is also a lot of toxic masculinity on campus––both within the students and within the professors. It is something that needs to be worked on but it has gotten better, especially under our new chancellor, Ms [Peggy] Valentine, who is phenomenal. I cannot praise her enough.”
“I am the first trans woman to be apart of the Fayetteville State University (FSU) homecoming court. I was the 2018 Miss Spectrum and now I am the president of SPECTRUM, which was not easy.”
“When I first came to [Fayetteville State], I saw someone I knew at a party. I did not transition in high school––I transitioned in college. I was covering an event for a radio station at the party. I saw him and he saw m. He got this look on his face and I was like, ‘Oh well, here it goes.’ Overnight, I was outed and I definitely saw the ugly side. Before when I was by myself, it was good. No one treated me any differently and it was a regular day-to-day thing. And then that happened and it went from people hugging me and saying ‘hi’ to people elbowing me in the chest and calling me names. Once I was outed, I kind of had a mental breakdown with one of my friends and she was like, ‘Well, what is left to say? You are not a secret and you are not something that should be hidden in the dark. You are human and now that you have this opportunity to own it, own it.’ That was a life changing moment for me and that was the first time I ever made a social media post about being trans and owning my identity. Since then, it is all in my social media bios and I am very open about it and I talk about it.
“I am the first trans woman to be apart of the Fayetteville State University (FSU) homecoming court. I was the 2018 Miss Spectrum and now I am the president of SPECTRUM, which was not easy. There were a lot of things said in passing and a lot of dirty looks and stuff but it was the best thing that I could have possibly done. Everything and anything I can do to make new students coming in lives easier, I am going to do it. I am fine with being a martyr. I am fine with putting myself on the chopping block, as long as it changes and as long as it actually makes an impact––and it has. Since then, SPECTRUM has grown so much and I have met a lot of allies and straight people who are super supportive. I think that is something the LGBTQ+ community overlooks as a whole: is that we need straight people just like we needed white people during the Civil Rights Movement. We need straight people now during our own modern day Civil Rights Movement, too. My key thing has been working outwards and engaging the whole student body. Since then, we have tripled and doubled in size. We have more people coming to our meetings and we have more people participating. It has gotten so much better.”
“Some of the positives are that we do have ‘Safe Zone’ trained professors and those professors have been great. Overall, it has gotten a lot better but is not perfect. I think with more people coming in and with more allies, the climate is going to change and it is going to get better and better each and everyday.”
What do you think can be done at Fayetteville State and at other HBCUs to ensure its LGBTQ+ student body and the LGBTQ+ community are included and represented at HBCUs, in history, and beyond?
MM: “The first thing that needs to be changed is the curriculum. There are some Black history specific classes which go into depth about Black history but from what I am told––I never took the class but this is what people have told me––they don’t touch base on any Black LGBTQ+ people in history. There is a lot we have done in the background and behind-the-scenes that we are not being taught about in school. I think the first thing is education. If there is any course or program that is being taught, there needs to be some inclusion of Black LGBTQ+ history integrated into it. There also needs to be some serious education in regards to athletes. I have had my fair share of athletes who found me attractive and when they found out I was trans, it got very hostile. Ever since I was outed, I have always been open. You also have to keep in mind the ‘trans panic defense’ is a real thing, so if they were ever to hurt me or kill me they could say, ‘I didn’t know she was trans and I blacked out.’ That is a legal form of defense. We need education.”
“There are some Black history specific classes which go into depth about Black history but from what I am told––I never took the class but this is what people have told me––they don’t touch base on any Black LGBTQ+ people in history. There is a lot we have done in the background and behind-the-scenes that we are not being taught about in school.”
“We need to be taught in some sort of mandatory seminar for all students, especially athletes, what it means to be trans. We need to be taught. It is not their fault––a lot of the toxic behavior hatred of the LGBTQ+ community comes from their environments and the way they were brought up. I believe that anyone who genuinely hates me for no reason, it is not their fault and I wouldn’t hold that against them. However, when people’s lives are in danger, that gets very sticky very quickly. We need counselors and school officials to take it more seriously. I feel like I keep on saying education but that is the main thing. I don’t think things are going to change unless we have conversations and education and it has to be a two-way street. They need to be able to ask all their questions, even if they are dumb questions. In terms of making it better at HBCUs in general, it is just making sure we reframe the mold of what it means to be human. We also need to address the mental health of Black men. Since the day they are born, Black men are also held at an unfair standard and they need to be able to express themselves. There is still so much that still needs to be done.”
What has been the most rewarding aspect of being at Fayetteville State University?
MM: “The most rewarding thing has honestly been for me to reclaim the power of my life. As a wonderful Black woman said, ‘Reclaiming my time!’ [Laughs]. I am one of the main people that will talk crap about Fayetteville all day, but I can genuinely say I love being at Fayetteville State and it has made me more proud of where I came from because it gave me challenges that turned into opportunities. It has allowed me to be more comfortable in my skin. It has prepared me for a lot. I am most grateful for is that I can walk into the ‘Safe Zone’––I am so sorry but I am getting a little emotional right now! [Laughs] [Cries] I am genuinely happy to see all those students who are coming in now, like the freshmen who don’t have to struggle as much as I did. They are really my babies. I am very motherly and nurturing, so I want to take care of them and want to protect them so much. To see them come in now, to have this community, and have this family, is probably the most rewarding aspect. They know there is a place where they can go. As lonely as it can be sometimes, even with your biological family––because a lot of students come from broken families––just to know they are happy, they are healthy, they are safe, and they know it is okay to exist is the most rewarding thing in the world to me.”
“To see them come in now, to have this community, and have this family, is probably the most rewarding aspect. They know there is a place where they can go. As lonely as it can be sometimes, even with your biological family––because a lot of students come from broken families––just to know they are happy, they are healthy, they are safe, and they know it is okay to exist is the most rewarding thing in the world to me.”
What does a ‘Black Woman Radical’ mean to you?
MM: “When some people hear ‘Black women’ it automatically turns into something negative because this is some of the imagery we get from media. Many times we are depicted as angry, too loud, or too much. When you put ‘radical’ with that, it is viewed negatively even more. What a ‘Black Woman Radical’ means to me is someone who is in charge of her roots and her being. It is someone who is going to combat social injustices and say, ‘This is not okay.’ We are going to take everything that has been done wrong to us and change it. A ‘Black Woman Radical’ is someone who is very strong. We are warriors. A ‘Black Woman Radical’ is going to take on all the ugly so we can plant a seed for a beautiful tomorrow.”
Who are Black women you admire?
MM: “Laverne Cox and Janet Mock. I can’t get over everything they’ve done. You got the whole cast of Pose––all of them. Every single one of them. Of course, Oprah. She is what my Jesus looks like. I really look up to Rosa Parks. Ever since I learned about her as a child, I was captivated by how fragile a hateful community has to be that one Black woman sitting down in a seat changed everything. She is definitely someone I admire and look up to. Rosa Parks also makes me think about how much bigger our actions are than our words. She didn’t say a single word to anyone and she just sat down. That is just a power of a Black woman and that radiates so much positive energy to me. I admire Beyoncé a lot because she does so much work and so much giving back and so does Rihanna. To be brave and to stand up to these powerful white men takes a lot and to be able to put their names on the line, that takes a lot, too.”
You can follow SPECTRUM on Facebook.
You can follow Michaela Moore on Twitter and Facebook @ImperialDeity.