Interview on April 11, 2022, with Adamaris, who is studying fashion design, outside the Culinary Arts Pathway at Los Angeles Trade Technical College.

Do you consider yourself religious?

Adamaris: Not really. I still believe, but not that much. One day my family just stopped going to church, but they believe. 

Why do you believe there’s a God?

Adamaris: Because I’ve seen the miracles that He’s done. Like, when my family had money problems, me and my family started praying and that’s when my dad found a good job that pays and that’s how I know that He’s real.

God is real and answers prayers, but do you know anything else about Him? Who is He?

Adamaris: I never thought about that, like the full “What is God?” I just know He’s out there.

Do you believe it’s good to believe in God and do you share your beliefs with your friends?

Adamaris: Everyone can believe or not. Throughout high school and also here I know many people who are atheist and I’m like, “It’s up to you if you believe or not.” I don’t want to force something on them. 

Do you think it’s true that there is a God?

Adamaris: I think there is.

Does that mean that atheists are wrong?

Adamaris: I don’t know. It’s up to them. That part is complicated. Everyone has their own opinion about it. In high school, I only had friends who were atheists. I was the only one who believed in God.

Were your friends raised atheist or had they stopped believing in God?

Adamaris: They stopped believing in God. When I talked about that, all of them were atheists. There are very few people I know who believe in God. 

Do you believe in an afterlife?

Adamaris: Growing up, that’s what I was taught, that there is an afterlife, heaven and hell, if you behave good, like the Ten Commandments. I want to believe that there’s something out there waiting for me.

Do you know the Ten Commandments?

Adamaris: Some of them. I went to church school for a while. For the quinceanera you had to do it, for First Communion you had to do it, so I did have to learn some of them. I was kind of forced to study them.

Do you still believe that the Ten Commandments are the measure of what’s good and bad?

Adamaris: Yeah.

What do you think about abortion, which involves killing a human being?

Adamaris: That’s what I thought, too, but then different circumstances of why they do it, I guess it’s up to the person, but then again the whole religion thing, so I’m in the middle. 

If a man decides he is a woman, is he really a woman who happens to be in a male body?

Adamaris: I don’t know, but I have friends like that. Right now they’re in the process of going to the next gender. It’s up to them; it’s their life. No one is forcing them.

Do you think God made a mistake and put them in the wrong body?

Adamaris: Honestly, I don’t think – I don’t know. I never thought of that. I just thought, whatever the person wants, I’m okay with it. It’s their choice. 

What if someone’s choice affects someone else? In an abortion, someone has to die. If your choice hurts someone else, is it really just your choice?

Adamaris: When you put it that way, yeah, it hurts someone. I try to stay out of it and just live my life. 

Do you know what your parents think about abortion?

Adamaris: I don’t know because they always say they’ll support any decision I make. Personally, I would never abort. I would try to keep the baby, no matter what.