Hi loves, my name is Reece-James & I am currently working with National Student
Pride. National Student Pride is the biggest LGBTQIA+ pride event for students
in the UK reaching its 15th birthday this year in 2020, and in celebration of
National Coming Out Day this year National Student Pride are launching a campaign
called #ShareYourStory to encourage every one to be brave & to be unapologetically
themselves about their sexuality & their gender. Now across this campaign, National
Student Pride & myself want to help & give hope to all those struggling with their
sexuality & gender. You're going to see a lot of these coming out stories from today
up until the main event coming in 2021. We hope we can provide some hope that
things do get better & education for others on why we still need LGBTQIA+ Pride
My name is Reece-James, & this is my story.
So, I came out at the young age of 13 which was a very long time ago.
We're talking 2007, & it was wild. It was a wild time. So, I had had a few
previous years to coming out of struggling with who I was, I kind of felt weird & a
bit like an alien because I didn't fit in anywhere I didn't fit in with the boys,
I didn't fit in with the girls, & I was like "Where is my place on this planet?"
So, as I mentioned, I really have the best experience coming out, unfortunately.
Some of us don't. I told my best friend at school at the time
during our walk to end of day registration which is a 10 minute thing
and by the end of that everybody knew. Every body in my year group were coming up
to me & heckling me about something I still did not really understand. I was not
ready to come out at all. So fast forward a few weeks & I had tell my Mum. Now as I
mentioned back then it was a different time, sexuality & gender were still very
much a taboo subject to talk about. Especially in the town I grew up in.
The town I grew up in every election they vote Conservative, which isn't exactly
great for the LGBTQIA+ community in my opinion. So it just wasn't a great time.
So, as you can imagine, be of a struggle. Also, back then you also didn't really
have any positive queer representation on TV and to be honest, we still don't really
have much. It's a lot better than it was in 2007 but all it was, was queer people
being the butt of the joke and having storylines that also ended up negatively.
From a very young age, I was very scared to be anything but straight because I
thought, from what I saw on TV that was what my life was going to end up like.
Which is not exactly a positive mindset on things. But yeah, I had to tell my Mum.
Back to the story. So, I walked into her room, tears streaming down my face, I did
not know how she was going to take it, & also it's just in classic dramatic form
for me, it's just something I'm going to do. So I just said to her that I like boys
She didn't know what to say or do so she just told me to go back to bed. Bless her!
So I did, being a good boy I listened to my Mum. I still couldn't sleep all I could
hear from the front door was my Mum sat there crying & smoking. I know what you
think, if someone's like crying & like something you take it as a negative & I
did. I did take it as a negative. For a while I didn't bring it up in conversation
even though I wanted to but a few weeks later I sort of managed to pluck up the
courage to talk to my Mum about it & she wanted to talk about it as well but she
didn't know how to bring it up at the time but she was just confused. she was scared
for me. She obviously saw how people are treated on TV & in the news for being
LGBTQIA+. So she was very scared of what my future could be like.
I just had to tell her that everything was going to change, & everything is going to
be fine, & I'm going to be fine. I had to explain it the best way I knew how I could
to my Mum. Back in the day, we were very big EastEnders fans, we loved them! So I
just had to tell her that I fancy Stacy, but I prefer Bradley. Which I think was a
really easy thing to understand, especially for my Mum.
Everything now, fast forward to 2020, is now fine. It's perfect. I could not ask
for a better support system that is my Mum & my brothers. My mum is my bestest
friend in the entire world, she's incredible & I could not ask for a better
Mum. She has been positive & understanding & willing to educate herself on a lot of
things, especially sexuality & gender. I still don't really have a firm grip on my
sexuality, I still prefer Bradley over Stacy. But, I am not putting off Stacy.
I'm still sort of just potting around life I'm kind of just free spirited, I love who
I love, I fancy who I fancy, & that's just me. I'm just a bit every where.
My name, again, is Reece-James. That was my story. Please, if you think yourself as
brave enough & want to share your story then please join in with the campaign,
under #ShareYourStory. You can find National Student Pride every where!
On Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube & various other platforms. You can use us to
keep up to date with LGBTQIA+ news, events & you can keep up to date and find out
what is happening with our 2021 event. We are looking forward to seeing you there
& we are looking forward to hearing your story. In the meantime, stay safe, wear a
mask & wash your hands. Thank you!