My social justice education taught me that understanding justice is a knot of interrelated questions. Untangling this knot is challenging because of varying conceptions of what constitutes “justice” due to cultural, social, and economic contexts that inform all of our lives. While many people may not recognize the importance of a social justice degree, I feel empowered in my ability to approach complex social issues, particularly relating to the legal system and LGBTQ+ identities.

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     Early in my life, I learned how injustice robs people of their dignity and agency. As a gay man growing up in the rural Midwest, I experienced this reality by witnessing how homogeneity was celebrated while diversity was persecuted. Even within the regional LGBTQ+ population of northeast Wisconsin, we did not have the tools nor resources to survive. We either assimilated or were punished. When I started college in 2015, same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States through Obergefell v. Hodges. After years of listening to people express how my existence is a sin, this landmark decision was incredibly validating, and empowered me to critically explore the legal system.

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     As I learned about injustice in the civil legal system through my introductory legal studies courses, I became involved in the access to justice movement in Minnesota. I volunteered in multiple civil legal service organizations, ranging from supporting low-income business owners and inventors, working in a community legal clinic, to tracking discriminatory housing deeds. Volunteering in legal services provided me with essential first-hand experience supporting people trying to navigate the legal system.

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     As a result my service, my understanding of justice became less of a certainty, and more of a question. I wanted more people from my university to engage with the question of what constitutes justice through direct action and conversation. As the Hamline Law and Justice Society’s inaugural Justice Coordinator, I collaborated with the Minnesota Justice Foundation to institutionalize a legal volunteering program to place undergraduate students with legal service providers. In 2018, I chaired the inaugural Twin Cities Access to Justice Conference, bringing students from over 18 colleges to discuss marginalized identities in the context of the legal system. Collectively, we discussed how laws are compulsory, but justice is more obscure.

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     My social justice education encouraged me to reflect on the benefits and problems associated with advancing social justice through a legal system. The legal process is an opportunity to address injustice. However, by relegating the final word to experts, we undermine grassroots organizing. The voices of the most marginalized are lost in translation. From my community organizing experiences in access to justice, people often feel that they do not have the tools to translate their own voices into tangible outcomes in the legal system. I am dedicated to serving people to bridge the gap between legal policy and community organizing.

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     At Hamline, I have been able to cultivate an expertise in LGBTQ+ organizing and policy- making. After being a timid LGBTQ+ person in my hometown, my social justice education transformed me into a leader capable of not only using my voice, but also to becoming the youngest elected member to the board of directors at OutFront Minnesota, one of the largest state LGBTQ+ civil rights organizations in the country. Supporting the work of an organization that uplifts the voices of LGBTQ+ people changed my life, and I used this experience to inform my study abroad.

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     My passion for community-based change led me to study conflict transformation and social change in Northern Ireland in the wake of an ongoing peace process. As part of my program, I interned at the Foyle LGBTQ+ Centre in Derry-Londonderry while studying at Ulster University’s International Conflict Research Institute. In Northern Ireland, there are only two full-time community centres dedicated to serving LGBTQ+ adults and youth. A cherished memory from my time in Northern Ireland was supporting the Centre in planning the first-ever LGBTQ+ Youth Forum. Over 100 LGBTQ+ youth ages 14-22 came together in Belfast to talk about issues that matter to them, and identified what they hope to see in their futures. At the Forum, I facilitated a community building activity and a roundtable discussion about LGBTQ+ visibility and the importance of building awareness of LGBTQ+ people in their communities.

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As I learn and experience the world, I continue to adapt my personal theory of justice. I saw a mural in Belfast that reads: ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine (“It is in the shelter of each other that the people live”). This sentence became my personal philosophy of justice. It is in the shelter of our communities that we fortify our resistance to oppression by having the space to cultivate our perspectives, values, and goals. I believe justice is the power of our communities sharing stories to build understanding, and asserting our dissent to transform institutions. I will use this understanding of justice to inform my future graduate studies and the rest of my life.