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COMMUNITY
OG The local apparel line inviting you to ‘Be Your Own’ By Mike Fleming
KT Deutschler
YOUR PERSONAL PRIDE IS NEVER CANCELED. As LGBTQ people across Atlanta set their own Pride schedules without a festival or parade this year, it’s on each of us to show out loud and proud. Good thing there is Be Your Own Apparel, the online merch by 33-year-old native Atlantan KT Deutschler. Her clothing line is exactly what the season calls for. Deutschler’s journey to the clothing market started with a path to her true self. “Throughout my younger years, there was no shortage of people telling me who I should be and what I should do to conform to societal expectations,” Deutschler told Project Q. “I eventually found peace with myself and gained the confidence to start living my truth.”
PHOTO COURTESY BE YOUR OWN APPAREL.
Someone outed Deutschler as a lesbian in high school, and she rolled with it. She went on to become a lawyer in Corporate America. Through it all, her struggle for approval continued, she said.
8 theQatl.com
“The LGBTQ+ community has come a long way since I came out,” she said. “But unfortunately, we still have progress to make. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, there will always be people in the world that think you are not worthy of happiness.” In the long run, the sum of those experiences made her realize she wanted to celebrate not only LGBTQ identities but all people who feel ostracized for their uniqueness, she said. “Knowing that this struggle was not unique to me,
