Collective Voices Archives - Into The Outside

“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”