ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a short introductory vignette of one participant, Max (a Latinx queer gender fluid/non-binary/trans individual), who was enrolled at a large public historically white institution in the Midwest. Max’s story introduces the chapter on hopes shared by Queer Students of Color because Max had multiple times in which they shared their dreams for life beyond college. This chapter then centers on the two main hopes that Queer Students of Color articulated in regard to their intersecting identities. Namely, participants said that they hoped to achieve a secure sense of self in the future. This secure sense of self would mean that they could resist conforming to negative stereotypes about their identities, being able to filter out the oppressive external influences. Additionally, some participants described how they believed that a secure sense of self would allow them to actively challenge racism, heterosexism, and other forms of oppression through activism and advocacy.
