LGBT+ Youth Scotland event at Eden Court guides young people to use their voice: “Our ability to make a change by simply being ourselves is amazing to me”
LGBT+ Youth Scotland held an event at Eden Court last weekend aiming to combine art with activism.
Featuring workshops ran by the likes of Manran singer Kim Carnie, Eden Court’s own Chak Hin Leung and charities such as Activising For Change, Rasash and Youth Highland; the “Creative Voices” event saw young people aged between 16 and 25 travel to Inverness from all over the Highlands.
Closing out the day was a panel discussion in the Playhouse cinema, with representatives from LGBT+ Youth Scotland, Affric Highlands, the Highlands and Islands Climate Hub and the Dingwall Youth Forum taking centre stage.
Opening the discussion around the question of what it is like to be a young LGBTQ+ person in the Highlands, Cassie Greenford from LGBT+ Youth Scotland was first to answer.
“I grew up in Thurso, so it was a very isolated community and I didn’t even know you could be queer, or trans,” they told the room.
“There was a lot of queer bashing, which was difficult to deal with.”
The youngsters from Dingwall Youth Forum were next to chip in, with Maura adding: “I came out really young in Muir of Ord, where there just isn’t really a view of queer people.
“Going to academy, people calling you slurs was a shock, because growing up we just didn’t have a concept of these people. Finding out that people could despise me for who I love is really odd.”
Jake continued: “I came out when I went into second year, and I was lucky enough to have a supportive family.
“In school I would face comments and slurs from the group of people you would expect it from, but I have a supportive group of friends and family that have really helped me through.”
The next topic asked what advice the panellists would give a young LGBTQ+ person who was unsure how their school could support them.
Cassie commented: “I find that a lot of what helps is building on existing structures. Schools will have resources, so find a teacher or a headmaster, or a receptionist, and say you’re really passionate about this and want to get other people involved.
“If the school isn’t supportive of queerness, then say you want to get involved in media and just look at queer media.”
Jake continued: “What really helped was finding a teacher who me and my friends could be ourselves around. We had this one teacher who is really lovely, and we had that safe space in our school which was pretty nice.”
Ashleigh Coghill from the Climate Hub added: “We’re talking about school exclusively here, but it’s important to remember that even though it feels like everything in your life there are things that exist beyond that.
“As you get older, you do find new opportunities to be accepted. Understand that it’s the school environment that’s wrong and not yourself.”
The panellists were also asked what the best things about being a queer young person in the Highlands was, to which Mollie Saunders from Affric Highlands said: “Because the Highlands are so rural, you have to reach out to people which means when you do meet up the connection is so much more powerful.
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“Highland Pride is about celebrating people you know, and it’s so moving when you are celebrating people you are with.”
Jake commented: “For me it would simply be our individual voices. Especially in our more rural communities where being queer is not a normal thing, people coming out and being themselves could inspire more people.
“Our ability to make a change by simply being ourselves is amazing to me.”
Maura added: “When you go to queer events, you see so many people you didn’t think existed. There were hundreds of people there who are as out there as I am, and it was mind-blowing. I don’t think you get that (impact) in the bigger cities.”
