What if it happens the first time I walk down the street, give a kiss to my partner and boom, get a fist to my face and called a slur? In my mind, I think possibly nobody has ever done anything to me because I haven’t dared let them see something that would give them a reason to. You may be thinking, but nothing has ever actually happened to you – get a grip and just get out there, nobody cares. I was no longer one of the ones in the minority, I was one of many.
#Skeletons found holding hands thousands of years later free#
When I went to my first ever Pride, it was truly the first time I felt free of all judgement, my fear of what someone might say about the Lady Gaga t-shirt I was wearing was gone. This is why safe spaces and events for LGBT+ people are still so needed. For a moment it felt like my experiences with dating were always going to be different to a heterosexual couple, and it didn’t seem fair.
When he was walking around with a woman, nobody would say a word. It was then that I realised, he never really had any of that to think about before. He, possibly rightly so, laughed this off and told me to relax. I immediately panicked, moved away and asked: “what if someone sees?”. We were walking through the supermarket and he gave me a hug, right there in the busy aisle. I remember I was once dating a bisexual man who had never dated another man before. Why am I any different? If they get beat up just for being queer, why wouldn’t I? Nobody ever did, but that doesn’t make me any less scared of the possibility of something like that happening, because it does on a daily basis to many others. You can also enter your address at the top of this page in the box below the picture on most desktop and mobile platforms.Ĭhanged your mind? There's an 'unsubscribe' button at the bottom of every newsletter we send out. It couldn't be simpler and it takes seconds - simply press here, enter your email address and follow the instructions. Signing up to the BuckinghamshireLive newsletter means you'll receive our daily news email. When I previously have worked up the courage to simply walk down a street holding hands with someone, I have always had to check over my shoulder, look around and be on high alert just because I was convinced someone would say something. I’m not the type to sit on a park bench and snog the guy's face off, we’ve all seen that with couples and thought to ourselves, get a room. Now, I feel I need to make this clear, when I’m talking about a public display of affection, I’m simply talking about holding hands with someone. I have never in my life had anything like that happen to me, but yet I am still absolutely terrified of showing any kind of affection in public. Many of my friends who are part of the LGBT community tell me awful stories about what has happened to them in the street, with verbal abuse often being something that they think just comes with being queer (it clearly should not). One in five LGBT people have experienced a hate crime due to their sexual orientation and/or gender identity in the last 12 months, with four in five going unreported - according to Stonewall.
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