At a young age, I was taught to believe there was a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. You could chase them to your heart’s desire (and I did), but I’ve never known anyone to find it.

In time, as I’ve grown, the rainbow has come to symbolize something more. The rainbow flag and its colors give voice and visibility to another often overlooked, misrepresented community.

The LGBTQ community faces challenges, discrimination, and intolerance much in the same way Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims, Asians, and plenty of other groups have faced—and continue to face—the same.

We’re all just humans. We’re all just people who want to be loved and accepted as our whole selves. That’s it. An entire planet of us. Some things may not make sense to us or may seem unnatural according to what we’ve always assumed to be right, but that’s only because they go against what we’ve been taught by other fallible humans.

While I, myself, am not gay, I have plenty of friends (young and old, of all colors) who are. Lesbian. Bisexual. Trans. Queer. Questioning. And I love you all.

I know what it’s like to feel alone, misunderstood, worthless, different, less than, unaccepted, like an outsider. It’s not fun. It hurts. It will always be difficult to fight. The best thing any of us can do for ourselves is love and accept who we are, no caveats, no concessions, full stop. Don’t be ashamed. Don’t be afraid. It’s taken me a lifetime to figure this out and I’m still figuring it out. To thine own self be true, as they say. Just be who you are.

And who are you? What are you? YOU ARE THE GOLD. You are the gold at the end of every rainbow. Stop chasing because, if you look in the mirror, if you look deep inside, you will discover the very thing you’ve been searching for all along. More than a daily affirmation, it’s the truth.

Even though you’re not a member of a population doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t advocate for them. That’s how we learn and grow and come together.

To that end, we’ve partnered with our friends at 4HUMANITY to create these shirts. Every time I wear mine, know that I am expressing my love for you as a human, a complete person, an equal.

Why do I think this is important? Because, having lived in large cities and smaller suburbs, I can see there are young people out there in places where they’re not readily accepted by their parents or peers, churches or communities, and they struggle. They’re not free to be who they truly are. They feel trapped. They feel unheard. They feel unloved. They internalize and keep it all inside, and that’s a lot for anyone, at any age. Even if you don’t have the courage to talk things through with family or friends, know that someone out there is in your corner. Someone out there sees, hears, and understands you. Someone out there cares. Someone out there believes in you even when you may not. Someone out there knows that YOU ARE THE GOLD and feels strongly enough about it to wear that message proudly. Maybe you want to wear it proudly too.