The Many Voices of Pride: Stav’s story
“I am a lesbian, a dyke, genderqueer, homosexual woman out and proud.” (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 Stav’s story…
How do you identify?
I am a lesbian, a dyke, genderqueer, homosexual woman out and proud.
What was it like being born in Athens and then coming to London?
The gay scene in Athens was very tiny. When I came out I disappointed a lot of people, I mean that’s the story of our lives, but then I gained a lot of friends and freed myself to be who I wanted to be. When I came to London that’s when my life began and that’s the reason I grew up here.
What does pride mean to you?
Pride is a protest. Pride is a riot and this is how it started. Let’s not mince our words or dilute history. It started with trans women of colour, simple as that. It continues to be a protest and riot but it has changed a lot especially when corporations have seen the opportunity to make some cash out of this.
Our community is big but it’s also very small, it’s fragile but it’s also very very strong. We need to have respect for the people who got us here and we need to teach young ones how to get there.
The only thing we’ve got is the now, so from this day onwards we have to do the right thing and the right thing is to choose love. I love my sisters and brothers equally whether they are non-binary, gay, lesbian or trans, we’re all in this together.
Why is the human rights flag important?
Human rights are the rights of humans to health, education, clean water, to a roof, to medical care. From my life time to beyond we’re represented by this flag so we can stop this abuse, we can use our human nature to do good things.
So, I believe in the flag because it’s a reminder to the ignorant people of what it means to have human rights.
Read all the personal stories from the Many Voices of Pride campaign here.
