The interview subject asked to be referred to by they, them and their pronouns.

The president of the Safe Zone, Shippensburg University’s LGBT club, sat pensively at a desk, working pencil to paper.

“How did I become me?” Giovani Onativia pondered as they lifted their instrument, leaning back in a swivel chair as the last of the day’s light flooded into the rainbow lounge, a Mountain Dew bottle perched in front of them on a paper-strewn desk.

The criminal justice major and psychology minor lived their early years in the suburban middle-class area of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, unexposed to diversity until their move to Tampa, Florida, where they were first immersed in the black community of Blake High School.

“I look white but I am Hispanic,” Onativia said. “Because I looked white I was treated a little bit differently.”

This culture shock proved insightful. After seeing what black culture had to offer, Onativia learned that the white-washed lens they were taught to see through back north was not true to reality, marking their time there as a positive learning experience.

Soon after their start in Tampa, Onativia and their family moved to Port St. Lucie where they attended St. Lucie West Centennial High School, the place where both their sexuality and love for criminal justice began to blossom.

“I was starting to understand my sexuality,” Onativia said. “I met people that I related to in terms of sexuality, so I was able to open up more about it and start to accept it. I started to see how horrible other people were treated over things they couldn’t control about themselves.”

Onativia admits to a previous naivety on the oppression against the gay community. “I thought that everyone could get married. I didn’t know there was so much stigma against them [the LGBT community].”

While Onativia formed new friendships and richened their understanding and acceptance of their own sexuality, a veil of the world as they previously saw it was being pulled back in their criminal justice classes, where they learned of the many injustices in society.

“You don’t open your eyes to these things until you start seeing yourself as someone who isn’t the majority of people,” Onativia said, adding that once they saw and learned of the unfairness of the world, they could not unsee it.

After their high school graduation in 2011, Onativia came out to friends and family on Facebook before moving back to Tampa to take some time off from school. They later moved back to the Chambersburg area the next year.

Onativia’s love for politics was reignited the months before the 2012 presidential election. They watched debates and grew more aware of the pressure points in the world.

“This new mindset drove me to want to go to college and to want to do something with my life,” Onativia said.

“I didn’t know specifically what I wanted to do but I knew for a fact it [criminal justice] was something I wanted to study.”

While studying criminal justice, Onativia attended their first Safe meeting their sophomore year of college.

“I started to show up and see what it was about. I became friends with everybody in the club because they understood what was going on. They were understanding and very open. If I had any problems I could go to them,” Onativia said.

They became the treasurer of Safe their first semester of junior year, and soon became the vice president of the club the next semester. By summer of 2016, Onativia was offered the position as president.

“We have a large group of people at our club. The entire room is filled,” they said, admitting it can be difficult to keep the interest and participation of such a large group of young adults. Onativia combats this challenge by watching LGBT videos and holding meetings in nature to discuss the issues at hand.

Onativia elaborated on these issues, explaining that in Pennsylvania it is not considered a hate crime to attack someone because of their sexual orientation. They continued to explain that there are no non-discrimination laws, so someone can be fired, denied housing and denied services for being part of the LGBT community. Despite these injustices, Onativia celebrates the right to marriage equality and the right for gay and lesbian couples to adopt.

“Other than that we’re pretty behind,” they said.

As the active spokesperson for Safe, Onativia encourages and provides resources for Safe members to register to vote as well as to write letters to congressmen about the problems their community faces. They also hope to contact the mayor of Shippensburg, Bruce Hockersmith, about the LGBT community’s concerns.

“If we can get protection in Shippensburg at least we would have a place where we can be tolerated. It is a small step, but it is a good step,” they said.

As Onativia reflected on their years at SU, they noticed the growth they have experienced here.

“I have learned that not everyone is as horrible as the world makes them out to be. We are living in a time where there is a lot of violence, hatred and bigotry. It brings out the worst in people, but it also brings out those who want to destroy those types of ideologies.”

They explained that their passion for eliminating what is wrong in the world has introduced them to many people with the same mindset.

“I used to think very lowly of everybody, but that’s changed since I’ve been here because of the people I’ve met,“ Onativia said.

In their career path, they understand they have to be unbiased in their view of others.

“In criminal justice, you can’t think lowly of a certain group of people because you can lose your job and ruin lives. I have learned to try to combat anything like that to work on the way I view others. I try to talk with people who are different than I am to try to understand things from their perspective so I am not just seeing it from my own,” they said. “I try to avoid stereotypes by looking at what actual statistics say and what the individual actually feels.”

Onativia’s closest friends attest to their passionate character, calling them a future activist.

“They’re not afraid to spit in the faces of those who are wrong,” said Onativia’s friend, Alex Waals. “It sounds really harsh, but if there is someone being a jerk, they aren’t afraid to tell them they are wrong.”

Waals recalls meeting Onativia and being drawn to him because of his “cool hair” and Sonic hoodie.

“I see them being active in LGBT activism, I can see them being a good activist.”

Onativia’s close friend Jahanny Pean also sees them working in activism.

“I see him going into activist work, it is a part of [them],” Pean said.

Pean and Onativia’s love for Pokemon brought them together their freshman year, but their shared love for politics and the law system sealed the friendship.

“[Their] an amazing friend and I am glad I met [them],” added Pean.

After graduation, Onativia hopes to study forensic psychology in graduate school in Boston, Chicago, DC or Quantico.

Onativia’s office is in Safe Space, or the rainbow lounge, located in Room 223 in the Ceddia Union Building. Their office hours are every Thursday from 3:30 to 5:30. All students are welcome to discuss any questions they may have about sexuality and gender.

“We don’t exclude anyone,” Onativia said.”We respect confidentiality if a member or someone in the group does not want to be identified. We respect that.”

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