After winter break comes to a close, a couple of weeks pass by, and you suddenly notice your average high school environment has every single hue of red, pink, and purple regurgitated all over it. There’s an extreme production of hand-drawn hearts and a bountiful stock of cupid’s arrows strewn every which way you turn. You’re lost in the complete and utter chaos that is Valentine’s Day preparation, something that can be blithe for some and overwhelming for others.

February annually marks the time of the school year where Computer Fun Survey results come out (you know, that lovely multiple choice quiz you forgot you took several months ago…) with a few goals set in mind to hopefully accomplish: bring people together, give folks a laugh, or make a certain percentage of students wish that their own personal coming out was acknowledged by the school.

When students take the survey, they are asked to provide information pertaining to their likes, dislikes, and how they feel about particular topics. To receive results, it is also mandatory to fill out the basic things about themselves such as their full name, grade, gender, etc. The dilemma here is simply that as society pushes forth, individuals are finding out more and more about themselves – this will inevitably include questioning their gender, sexuality, or perhaps even both.

To clear up any confusion, gender and sexuality are not the same thing. To put it into the easiest way to understand, gender is basically what a person identifies, in contrast with sexuality, which is who a person is attracted to. One of the most honest truths with this entire subject is that people may not identify as male or female, and/or people may not be attracted to the gender that society thinks we should be attracted to.

It is well established that students do not have to buy their results if they prefer not to; however, that erases the whole point of the school even participating in the program. A Valentine’s Day survey should ideally include people of all genders and sexualities because it will make it more accurate and more “fun”, as it is supposed to be. My personal suggestion would be to have Computer Fun Survey results that do not assume everyone who previously took the quiz to be straight.

Whether someone is female, male, trans, or nonbinary; or whether someone is straight, gay, bi, or pan; whether someone is any gender or sexuality in between or is currently questioning, they should be acknowledged in this lighthearted activity too so that way they can also enjoy the month of hearts.