Welcome to the Family...

For me, this move to London means a lot. The past couple of years had bee quite an emotional roller coaster. I came out, had my first love, started my first proper job (that I ended up hating), lived in a city where I felt like the loneliest person in the world. It was a hard time for me, I had spent years at university surrounded by friends an feeling quite ‘safe’ and suddenly my life was the complete opposite of what I had expected it to be. For the first time in a while I completely missed my home, I missed my parents, I missed my brother and sister, I missed my old school friends. This from a person who had gone to the other side of the country to go to university and swore that they would never move back home to the area that I grew up in....but I did.

I’ve always been a very social person, I have friends from different groups dotting around the place. We dip into to each others lives for drinks and dinner but part ways for months or years, always returning to see each other feeling like nothing had changed.These people I love and care about a lot.

But a little while ago, something really touched me. My housemates returned from holiday and gave me a little present (pictured). As they handed it to me that day they said “Welcome to the family”, just a simple few words that mean a lot and yes, they did make me cry. This little gesture touched me in so many ways. After a period of feeling alone and spending time settling into a new place and making new friends, these words made me feel settled and secure.

I’m very privileged to have two great housemates, even though we have only lived together for a couple of months, I know that I have friends for life. They welcomed me with open arms when I moved in and have introduced me to some of there great and amazing friends who have adopted me into their little family too. Like any house we have our disagreements and you learn each others bad habits, but then you remember the fun times, the great meals and the drunkard/random evenings that made you giggle.

Good friends are hard to come by, but when you fined them, boy are they worth keeping and always remember the little moments that touch you.

Being Proud at Pride...

“Right...so...there is something that I need to tell you....I'm gay”

This phrase is said by thousands of men and women every day across this planet, as they come to terms with their feelings and share this personal detail with there friend, family and work colleagues. I some times think that it’s sad that we still live in a society where we need to tell people our sexual orientation, but to be honest, I feel proud to be who I am so I don’t mind telling people...

Being gay though can be a hard thing to come to terms with, when you realise that all your feelings and emotions go against what some people in this society believe as ‘the norm’. When you realise that you are part of a minority that is fighting for rights in this world. How do you even start to take all of this information in?

Coming out is something that is still fresh in my mind. I came out to my friends and family about two years ago after about 10 years of knowing I was different and finally coming to terms to my feelings and thoughts. Going through the process of coming out is one emotional rollercoaster  and to be honest it’s taken me 2 years really to feel settled in this skin and get to where I am. Time and support is what was needed and I’m very lucky to say that I have great friends old and new who have supported me through this; I know there are quite a few people who have not had this.

I feel lucky to come out when I have, when being gay is accepted a lot more than it has been in the past 40 years. People have fought to make me feel safe in this world and celebrate my feelings and I would like to say thank you to those people. We are not totally there yet and there is still a long way to go before there is equality....all I can do is dream that one day there will be.

But last weekend was very special, it was a weekend for me where I can celebrate who I am. I can walk down the street holding my boyfriends hand, feeling safe and secure that I won’t be stared at. Where I can celebrate with others how far we have come as a community to where we are now, but also realise how far we still need to go to get equality in this world. This was London Pride!

There are pride events in every major city in the UK now, representing and celebrating their gay communities. But one of the biggest is London, our capital city. The city becomes somewhere to celebrate; we parade through some of the biggest streets displaying the great diversity of community, from religious groups, political groups to the emergency services and the armed forces and we party in Trafalgar Square and Soho. If you get a chance to go, your should really go and experience it for yourself. Straight, gay, bi or trans you are all accepted for who you are and just have some fun!

This blog post was inspired by the blog post below from a very special person. Enjoy! http://peacockpete.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/london-pride-its-here-its-queer-its-not-named-after-the-beer/

We are a community that knows how to make a difference, but a also a community that knows how to have fun and celebrate! So next year, why don’t you come and join us?