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Into The Outside

Building a Contemporary Queer Youth Archive in Brighton & Hove

Representation

  • “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 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”

  • “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”

  • “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”

  • “There was a time where I wasn’t at all comfortable with this and I was very sort of isolated”

  • “I’m still actually quite new, to be completely honest, it hasn’t been long”

  • “We are only beginning to reach a period in culture where representatives of the kind of broader definitions of LGBTQ+ culture are being able to speak for themselves in the media”

  • “Pride is important, because it allows us to be together in solidarity”

  • “It’s increasingly becoming less of a political event and more of a just a big party, which annoys me a bit”

  • “It’s nice to feel a part of something”

  • “I’ve always kind of dressed like a tomboy since I was a kid. I hated girly things, but I’ve never really thought much of it”

  • “If they know about it when they’re young, they won’t be horrible to people who are queer”

  • “Don’t worry if you don’t know, it might take you a while. It has taken me three years”

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

  • “I find it a bit overwhelming”

  • “I have never seen so many openly gay people. Never”

  • “Certainly, in the last few decades, we’ve made great strides towards LGBTQ+ equality”

  • “I feel like there’s a lot of ‘It’s OK to be this, it’s OK to be whatever you want to be’ but they don’t say how”

  • “My sister’s girlfriend, her mother didn’t approve of it really and spent a long time trying to make sure she didn’t feel comfortable”

  • “I do have a lot of transgender and gay friends. Sometimes I do talk to them about stuff like this, because I want to learn more. I want to make sure I understand it”

  • “The school’s good to speak to, but they won’t really solve any of the issues that they’re having”

  • “They’re always asking me what certain words mean for certain things”

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

  • “I think representation is important”

  • “Although I identify as male, I still quite like wearing feminine clothes”

  • “I remember the one time I actually said to a group of people that I was straight and it was when I was really uncertain”

  • “I’d almost been out a year and so I wanted to feel like I was really part of the community and fully comfortable with my identity”

  • “My parents bought me the ticket to Pride for Christmas”

  • “It shows we’re a part of society. Everyone feels like they can express themselves in their own way. They don’t have to hide away”

  • “Sometimes I feel like I want to wear more feminine clothing, but mostly I wear masculine clothes to present how I’d like my pronouns to be”

  • “I’ve always questioned my gender and I’m still not really sure”

  • “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’m getting kind of annoyed at the way that being a gay man is kind of seen as the most culturally valid form of being queer”

  • “I love Pride. It’s one of my favourite days of the year”

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

  • “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”

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

  • “I feel super gay, but I like it.”

© 2021 Into the Outside *