Hi! My name is Ysabel Born and I am a current student at the University of Texas at Austin. I am double majoring in Religious Studies and Humanities Honors, where I get to create my own major. My created major is about queerness and sexuality within the Bible and christianity. I grew up in Houston, Texas in a Christian family. As I grew up, I realized that I am queer. I had never met anyone, or even heard of anyone, who was both queer and a Christian. But these two things were my identity and I could not change being a Christian or being queer. So, I began researching. I fell down a rabbit whole and found more and more evidence of the Bible being affirming for the LGBTQ community. However, the majority of people do not know this. Currently 99% of churches are non-affirming. I realized that what I had been learning about the Bible needs to be researched deeper and shared with others. This is why I chose this major – so that I can begin to transform the current Christianity. For my future, I hope to go to graduate school and be able to preach myself while also educating others on LGBTQ inclusion in Christianity.

On a non-academic level, I am involved in a spirit, social, and service group at UT Austin called Texas Spirits. We are the oldest non-male spirit group at UT, being around since 1941! Also, I run a business through instagram called Stacks by Ysa. I create custom jewelry and sell them through instagram. Business has been booming and I am going to be selling my jewelry at an event called Band Jam that Texas Spirits throws to support Saint Louise House! I am a lover of UT sports, all things art related, and spending time outdoors! Below are some film photos I took (look at the Other Interests page for more about this!).