Being bi, being visible and being proud

TRANSCRIPT

EMILY: We marched in Leeds Pride for the first time a few years ago, and then we took a break, and then we came back last year. And the difference in the response that we got was amazing. Just, there was, we felt it wasn't that we weren't welcome the first time, but last year when we, when we marched, just everybody was so happy to see a bisexual group marching with, you know, the bi, the pan flags going and the banner with ‘Leeds Bisexuals’ on it and just so many people that were obviously doing the ‘Oh my god there is a-’, you know [laughs] ‘That's my flag! That's my colours there!’ that's just, yeah, it was really lovely to see. It was amazing. And then last year was so much better again, it was... yeah. Such an amazing feeling.

INTERVIEWER: What do you feel like when you're sort of marching?

EMILY: This is going to sound really cliché... the pride that bursts from your chest just to feel like, you know, I have a right to be here, you know, this is, this is me being completely me and it's accepted and it's welcomed and also knowing that we're showing people that this is okay. You know, on a personal level I've not had many bi role models within my local life so, you know, there's - I'd always wished there was someone higher up in my work structure who identified as bi so I knew I would be okay because if this person can be out and be bi... and be, you know, safe in their work environment then I can be too and I never had that. And you don't see people on the media very often and, you know, it's not- even our kinda local LGBT celebrities, it's not really, you know, it's not really seen. So to be able to kinda go out there and do the, you know, there's a lot of us, you're not alone because I mean that's one of the reasons I set up the bi group. It's again that clichéd ‘Am I the only bisexual person here in Leeds?’ and then in the end I just went you know what let's just start a group and find out.