Mitch grassi is gay

I had never considered that these five, self-described choir enthusiasts could eventually play a pivotal part in my life, and also my personal journey of gaining the confidence and support needed to embrace my identity as a trans individual. The Pentatonix members—a renowned a cappella group with three Grammy Awards—are the five choir geeks I am talking about. 

In 2016, only a few weeks after I came to the realization that I was transgender, I saw Pentatonix for the first time ever. Since that time, their music (in general) has consistently been a component of my everyday routine and served as the musical backdrop for some of the most significant events in my own existence. Their rendition of the song "Imagine"—together with its music video—showed me an excellent illustration of the influence of visibility. In other words, LGBTQ+ individuals openly shared who they are with the world, stood by the side of their supporters, and achieved great success in their fields. Each member in the video holds a card denoting one of their traits or commonalities while it is set on a darkened soundstage. Before coming to a conclusion that serves as a reminder of our shared humanity, the card is transferred to each of the members. Despite our widely diverse identities, the thing that we all share is our common humanity.

Scott Hoying and Mitch Grassi, two of Pentatonix's members, launched Future Friends as Superfruit in 2017, which was their very first album. Both this album and the subsequent tour presented me with one of my initial opportunities to fully engage with the LGBTQ+ community. That summer seemed like a confidence-building turning point as I located my own place in a community, from the oversubscribed LA Pride (which brought tens of thousands of individuals altogether) to their concerts in the couple of days that followed. I saw folks dancing and singing to songs that told queer narratives and showcased a diverse group of performers in music videos that defied traditional ideas of gender. And for the very first time, I felt self-assured enough to take part in the fun.

The open inclusion of trans individuals on Mitch Grassi's social networking sites and the community and atmosphere that Superfruit had cultivated both played a significant role in my recently acquired confidence. Mitch uses Twitter to regularly denounce transphobia and other harmful behaviors while also providing encouraging words to followers who may be at varying points in their personal journeys. 

I told Mitch during a meet and greet that he, along with the rest of Pentatonix, had enabled me to summon the inner fortitude to come out. Telling my hero how greatly he had assisted me in that regard proved to be an intimidating endeavor, yet he was incredibly encouraging and showed me how proud he felt of me. I was able to recognize the significance of positive role models because of that precise time and how I perceived my own function as an advocate and storyteller was also changed.

Mitch's consistent advocacy for trans people is crucial in ensuring that allyship is both well-informed and consistent, acknowledging the realities of trans people's lives throughout the entire year rather than merely during Pride Month or on visibility days. Their unwavering devotion to uplifting others and amplifying their voices has always been something that has stood out to me about the band as a whole. They were competing on The Sing-Off even at the very beginning of their professional lives. Despite the fact that the word "LGBTQ" was completely censored, the charity that they decided to support on the program was The Trevor Project, and their work supported crisis intervention and prevention of suicide among LGBTQ+ adolescents. People just like myself who were fighting to find our voices and get at ease with who we are found this visibility to be, and it still is, incredibly crucial.

Exploring and finding who we are can lead to our own visibility and maybe even leadership and advocacy that enables us to help the next group of queer people in need. Allies who amplify the voices of a community by using their platform, as opposed to speaking for them, enable and instruct individuals on how to utilize their voice to promote change and share their own narratives. Pentatonix and each of its members showed me how to accomplish this in my own circumstance. I learned to take chances and push past my comfort zone, to aim for big goals and put in a lot of effort to accomplish them, and to know that there would always be those that wanted to assist me and be there for me.

Trey Shimizu is a GLAAD Campus Ambassador and a senior at SUNY Stony Brook University studying studio art and biology. Trey participates on the EBoard for Stony Brook's Trans Alliance while also working at the university&8217;s LGBTQ Center following its opening in March of 2018.