The Roller Coaster Riders of the Badingers
Coming out is a deeply personal milestone for individuals across the spectrum of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sexual Characteristics (SOGIESC). This qualitative study explores the experiences and challenges of SOGIESC (LGBTQ+) first-year students at Bataan Peninsula State University - Dinalupihan Campus, using a drawing-based design alongside structured questionnaires and thematic analysis. Across family, school, and community contexts, five key themes emerge: complicated family relationships and support, school as a safe space, community awareness, community-level discrimination, and full self-acceptance. Participants' side-profile drawings serve as both data and an educational tool, capturing negative and positive experiences side by side. Findings show that while participants encountered no discrimination within school, their journeys of self-recognition began as early as age six, with periods of secrecy lasting up to fourteen years before self-acceptance emerged between ages fifteen and eighteen.
