Autobiography

My name is Wendi Ricklefs. I grew up in a small town in Oregon. I haven't been too far from the West Coast ever in my life, discluding my trips through pages in books. I am an artist of all types and materials. I am surrounded by beauty in nature, as well as human nature, here in the Great Northwest. I have included a drawing that I have been working on while approaching my research, and has taken on new meanings in this context.

I am twenty-three years old, have a wonderful husband and a precious baby girl who are constant inspirations to my life. Everyone needs inspiration in their lives to make this world a better place to live in. My daughter's nickname is "Bug" because her eyes are wide open to the world around her, this is something she gets from me. I want to encourage her, and everyone around me, to be who they are inside of their own heart.

Statement on Standpoint

I personally embraced this subject as a way to learn more about homosexuality so I could come to terms with it in my own heart and life. I recently had a very close friend who came out of the "closet," to me, anyways. I wanted to learn why this person was being treated the way they were by close friends and family members. I also felt as if I needed this information myself to be more of a support to this person.

I still wonder what would have happened to me if I was not so scared to take the risk of going against the ideologies of many. I am happy where I am today though, and there is a chance I would be somewhere else in a completely different lifestyle if I had taken any of those opportunities. I do feel that everyone should be able to make their own personal choices, and be encouraged to be happy with whatever that choice is.

Misson Statement

My passion for creating this web page was to put a stop to homophobia. In my process of gathering information, I realized that this was not something that I could accomplish alone. It needs to be a widespread goal of many individuals. Toward this end, I decided to give an historical overview of the topic of sexuality and how various ideologies were formed. The question informing these pages is how it could be possible to break heterosexist cultural traditions.

In the context of the YWCA, I found information on how the organization went from assuming and re-inforcing heterosexuality among its members, to getting more active in the rights of women to make their own choises about sexual orientation. Compared to the YWCA, the YMCA's history of homosexuality is better documented, even celebrated, in record of the urban gay culture.