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Into The Outside

Building a Contemporary Queer Youth Archive in Brighton & Hove

Collective Voices

  • “However you identify is valid”

  • “I think we need to make changes in the language that we use”

  • “Whatever you’re feeling is normal. I don’t think it’s made known enough that it’s OK to question things”

  • “We’re more than people who just come out”

  • “If you’re given a voice, use it. If you’re not using it, they’re going to take it away from you”

  • “Some of the things have changed over here, thankfully, but they haven’t everywhere else and I think that needs to be acknowledged”

  • “I write a lot of essays from the perspective of queer theory”

  • “I think the ideas about what community is have changed”

  • “I’m sure there are some that haven’t come out yet”

  • “We have come a long way, but the fight isn’t over”

  • “I’m a lot more open with my friends in Brighton”

  • “I think the problem with trying to describe my gender is everything falls into society-defined categories”

  • “I don’t think it’s the only thing that defines me. I think I’m more than my gender and sexuality”

  • “I’ve always known that I like boys and girls and everyone in the middle and everybody outside of it”

  • “I’m in the process at the moment of questioning things and working it out. I feel like if I try and put too much of a label on it then I’m restricting it too much”

  • “Sex ed. needs to be taught for everything”

  • “Consider why you feel the way you feel”

  • “We need to be as loud as the people who don’t have to fight for their voice”

  • “I’m not as well versed in it as I feel I should be as an LGBTQ+ person”

  • “Most of my friends are LGBTQ+. I think I have one straight cis friend!”

  • “I went to a Pride in Portsmouth, which was drastically different”

  • “I talk to my mum a bit. My family I think are aware, but we don’t really talk about it much”

  • “I’ve chosen the clothes for a reason”

  • “I started out thinking I was cis and straight, like most people”

  • “I expect it to be respected the same as anyone else’s gender identity, no more, no less”

  • “I don’t associate with any gender”

  • “Sex ed. is just straight and for us that’s living hell”

  • “Everyone questioning an identity or an orientation wants to find out more”

  • “I love the fact that they’re building in new LGBTQ+ness into the media, as we know it”

  • “Politicians are there to represent us. We need to be political about our rights so that they get it”

  • “In Russia, they’re putting us in concentration camps”

  • “I know there was a lot of opposition against our community back in the old day”

  • “It’s nice to know that you’re part of something that’s just brilliantly vibrant”

  • “I have a lot of LGBTQ+ friends. A lot of them identify as many different things”

  • “I’d say Brighton Pride has a brilliant atmosphere”

  • “The LGBTQ+ community is vibrant within my college, but is being drowned out when it comes to identity”

  • “There are genuine points when I decide ‘Let’s pop this skirt on and let’s see the world!’”

  • “A name isn’t everything”

  • “I’ve been through a lot and I think I’m pretty happy where I am”

  • “My name has changed over the years, because I felt I couldn’t identify as my birth name”

  • “It’s a joint venture between being non-binary and also being male”

  • “My school had a Stonewall award and I ended up running the LGBTQ+ group, so it was really great and really good fun. All of my teachers were completely supportive of me”

  • “We don’t have equality yet and that’s really shocking”

  • “I find it a bit overwhelming”

  • “So me and my mum came out to each other!”

  • “I realised the things that made me identify as one or the other, were inherently really sexist“

  • “I have to consider passing as male, so I don’t get horrifically mis-gendered everyday”

  • “I enjoy being open and feeling like part of the community”

  • “I don’t think I have a single straight friend, so they’re all very accepting”

  • “I think we need to have, globally, acceptance of everyone and unknown identities, unknown genders”

  • “I feel like once I have chosen an identity, or found myself, I will be accepted”

  • “There were so many other people that I could relate to there.”

  • “I want it to change that people don’t label people as soon as they see them”

  • “My friends are completely accepting”

  • “I thought I might try out male pronouns and that felt right”

  • “I was told by someone, well actually by a few people, that I am the most gay person they know”

  • “One thing I’ve noticed I start doing now is when I meet someone new, I don’t just ask their name, I ask their pronouns as well”

  • “That’s just how they are, so I’m quite happy. It went as well as it could do I think”

  • “In Brighton, I think sexuality wise, it’s a lot more accepting ”

  • “Being part of this project has opened my mind to identities out there that I didn’t know existed. So I’m trying them on to see how they fit”

  • “This is just part of who I am and I should accept that. Everybody else should accept that and if they can’t, then that’s their problem”

  • “If everyone was just accepting, that’d be cool wouldn’t it?”

  • “I haven’t worked it out. How do you come out to your mum?”

  • “I guess it’s chill to realise that you can be androgynous and not just a stereotype of a girl”

© 2025 Into the Outside *