Katie
My identity is: Lesbian
My pronouns are: she/her
UoG Student
Although I am open about my sexual orientation to most people and have been for around three years, it was not easy getting to this point.
For years I had wondered why I was never attracted to any boys in my classes in primary school or why I did not fawn over the members from One Direction or JLS like the other girls did. During sex education in year 6, it just felt inevitable to me that I would be with a boy one day and have to be intimate with him. The thought of that alone did not appeal to me at all.
2015 was when I really started to question my sexuality after a close friend had kissed me and I dabbled in reading wlw fan fiction late at night, taking numerous gay quizzes and watching the music video to "Girls like Girls" by Hayley Kiyoko thousands of times because it made me feel seen. I identified as bisexual and then pansexual even though I was not attracted to men whatsoever but it felt more like an obligation to say I was to make my family happy that there would be a teeny chance I would be with a man, I eventually realised this was compulsory heterosexuality and as soon as I starting identifying as a lesbian it just felt right, I felt more like me. There were many obstacles in my journey, my family not understanding, being uncomfortable calling myself a lesbian because of how fetishised the word is, internalised homophobia, etc. It was a lot to put up with but luckily, I have loads of friends that have supported me throughout, teachers that were willing to listen to me talk about it and eventually my family came round and were eager to be educated so they could be more supportive. At this moment in time, I can happily say that this is the most comfortable I've felt with my identity.
At University I find that a lot of people are non-judgemental and open to the fact that everyone is different which is reassuring. I have also met a lot of people who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community that I have befriended and it feels great to share our experiences with one another and see eye to eye.
My pride message:
So many in the LGBTQIA+ community face hatred and harassment every day and many across the world are scared of the government taking their rights away or punishing them because of something they cannot change. This is something that should be acknowledged during Pride Month and throughout the rest of the year and if you can take action towards changing any of those things then do it.