If I was born now, it'd be a heck of a lot different. I would be myself from much earlier on. If I could speak to my younger self, I would tell her: "Freaking go for it. It's not as bad as you think."

Now, I'm not living in Texas or Florida, where they're making these laws. I'm living in New York State and I'm working at a small liberal arts college in Northeast United States.

But I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. So would Missouri be the place to ‘freaking go for it’?

I don't know. But I think I would definitely explore a lot more. I would be a lot more honest with myself. I'd be a lot more honest with people around me.

I would tell my younger self that "It's going to be okay, you are going to be okay. You can be yourself. You are going to feel better as yourself than you are by keeping that person hidden away."

[As told to @Ragi Gupta]