The Many Voices of Pride: Izzy’s story
“I think there’s a lot of fear from the unknown.” (Uber)
The LGBT+ community is made of many different identities, all of which are as valid and important as the others, and every single one deserves to fly their flag with pride.
For Pride 2019, PinkNews has teamed with Uber to tell stories that show how important visibility is to a diverse rainbow of sexual and gender identities.
This is Izzy’s story…
When did you first realise you were bisexual?
I think I became aware of my sexuality very early to the point where I was wondering “OK, everyone is saying I should only be crushing on guys but I have crushes on girls too, I don’t know what’s happening.
In Canada we have LGBTQ sex-ed which I don’t think happens here.
But we learnt about all the letters of the LGBT (at that point the Q was not added) and when we got to the B the teacher was like, “Bisexual is someone who likes both men and women,” and I blurted out in the middle of class “Oh my god that’s me!”
I was 13 and not ready to come out of the closet. I was treated very differently in class. And I sort of went back in the closet.
I didn’t really mean to come out of the closet, it just kinda came out of my mouth.
Were you treated differently after that experience?
Yes, especially by the girls. They didn’t want to change in front of me in the changing rooms which made me really uncomfortable. That’s the one thing that’s hard about being bisexual.
Sometimes you experience the violence of male sexuality towards you.
You don’t want to put that energy across when you’re engaging with women or when you are attracted to them, so I find it’s a balance.
What does having a flag that represents your community mean to you?
The rainbow flag exists and I think that’s great but I think it’s equally as important for each individual LGBT identity to feel represented. Having the bisexual flag as something I can wear.
It gives me that extra bit of visibility and an extra way of presenting myself and my sexuality. It’s something I’m very proud of.
I’m an actor, performer, singer-song writer, and theatre maker and it’s so great to see bisexual characters now being represented and bisexual actors playing them.
It gives me hope not only for my career as an actor but also my life as a biseuxal person to have that visibility and to have our stories told instead of being erased.
Read all the personal stories from the Many Voices of Pride campaign here.
