“I am a per­son who takes many labels,” Bailee says with qui­et con­fi­dence. “Bisex­u­al, Lati­na, dis­abled, woman and more. I very much like to talk about inter­sec­tion­al­i­ty for Queer peo­ple. Cov­er­ing all those bases is impor­tant so that every­one feels part of a com­mu­ni­ty.” For Bailee, inclu­sion isn’t just a concept—it’s per­son­al. It’s the thread woven through every chap­ter of her sto­ry.

Finding Her Voice

Grow­ing up, Bailee knew she was bisex­u­al. But under­stand­ing your­self and being free to express it are two dif­fer­ent things. “I was always look­ing for peo­ple who under­stood how I felt. But at home, I had to keep it qui­et,” she explains. That lim­i­nal space—out, but not ful­ly free—affected her expe­ri­ence at Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia at Berke­ley. “When we get pushed into new spaces, it adds so much stress,” she reflects. “Am I Queer enough?”

Bailee was also grap­pling with undi­ag­nosed issues that would lat­er be iden­ti­fied as autism, OCD, and a chron­ic heart con­di­tion. “We don’t have a lot of dis­abled rep­re­sen­ta­tion in the Queer com­mu­ni­ty,” she notes. “Acces­si­bil­i­ty is not a top pri­or­i­ty.” When her health demand­ed atten­tion, Bailee left col­lege. This inflec­tion point became a nine-year break from school and ulti­mate­ly led to build­ing some­thing extra­or­di­nary.

Creating Space for Others

Bailee dis­cov­ered Twitch, the gam­ing stream­ing plat­form. What start­ed as a place to watch oth­ers play video games became the foun­da­tion for a pro­found com­mu­ni­ty of con­nec­tion. “I became a stream­er myself and formed this mas­sive com­mu­ni­ty of people—different iden­ti­ties, POC, Queer, dis­abled, all com­ing togeth­er,” Bailee says. “We bond­ed over our love of role-play­ing video games and fan­ta­sy worlds. But it became so much more than that.”

Gam­ing was the entry point. But what emerged was a space where peo­ple could talk about what they strug­gled with as Queer peo­ple nav­i­gat­ing spaces and inter­sect­ing iden­ti­ties.

Returning with Purpose

Bailee began vol­un­teer­ing at the local LGBTQ+ Cen­ter with­in the San Joaquin Valley—a rur­al, con­ser­v­a­tive area where resources are scarce and vis­i­bil­i­ty can feel risky.

It was there that Bailee learned about Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund. The schol­ar­ship gave her some­thing she des­per­ate­ly need­ed: the abil­i­ty to return to school and pur­sue her goals with­out sac­ri­fic­ing her sur­vival.

Now at age 30, Bailee is in her sec­ond semes­ter back at Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty, Fres­no, major­ing in com­mu­ni­ca­tion. The schol­ar­ship does­n’t just cov­er tuition—it funds the mate­ri­als she needs for her ser­vice learn­ing course, where she’s at a non­prof­it cre­at­ing social media. The schol­ar­ship helps pay her inter­net and elec­tri­cal bills. “I don’t make a lot of mon­ey,” Bailee says sim­ply. “The schol­ar­ship helps me do my work in a more pro­fes­sion­al set­ting.”

Doing the Work Where It Matters Most

Being back in school after nine years brings per­spec­tive. “I want every­one to feel like they belong in these aca­d­e­m­ic spaces,” she says. “That their voice mat­ters. It is easy to feel like no one cares—to only sur­vive.”

At Fres­no State, class­mates open­ly dis­agree when Bailee shares her per­spec­tives. She gets looks. She hears com­ments. But she’s reached a point where she’s com­fort­able with who she is. “I can’t change every­one’s mind,” she acknowl­edges, “but I might be able to give some­one a dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive.”

And per­spec­tive is exact­ly what dri­ves her for­ward. “Peo­ple in the Cen­tral Val­ley need resources like Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund. We may not be seen as often, but we are here. Some peo­ple leave for their safe­ty, and some peo­ple can’t leave.”

The Ripple Effect

Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund did­n’t sole­ly help Bailee afford col­lege. The schol­ar­ship was an invest­ment in a com­mu­ni­ty builder, sup­port­ing some­one who will use her com­mu­ni­ca­tion degree to ampli­fy voic­es. “It’s scary right now,” Bailee says. “But fear is less impor­tant than giv­ing voice to peo­ple. We must keep going for­ward.”

With the sup­port of Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund, Bailee is build­ing the future she wished exist­ed when she first left home for Berke­ley. A future where acces­si­bil­i­ty is pri­or­i­tized, where all iden­ti­ties are cel­e­brat­ed, and where Queer peo­ple every­where have resources and com­mu­ni­ty.

Your dona­tion to Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund sup­ports stu­dents like Bailee—overcoming bar­ri­ers and build­ing com­mu­ni­ties that change lives. Invest in the lead­ers who will shape a bet­ter tomor­row.