The Many Voices of Pride: Mahatma’s story
Everyday I spend with my friends and the queer community I learn and discuss things that make me feel a lot more safe. (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 Mahatma’s story…
What was it like growing up? When was the first time you felt like you belonged?
I grew up in Italy until I was 13-14 and I never felt like I belonged when I was over there. Then, as soon as I moved to London, because it’s such an amalgamation of different cultures and people, I felt more at home.
Everyday I spend with my friends and the queer community I learn and discuss things that make me feel a lot more safe.
What have you learnt about gender from doing drag?
Starting to do drag taught me to look at gender as a construct and how society looks at it.
Drag helped me moved away from that. On a day-to-day basis, even without doing drag, I step away from the whole idea of gender.
One of the things I love most about drag is the way that we play with gender and how there is no real definition of gender.
Why is Pride important to you?
Pride is important because it’s about visibility.
We need to show the rest of the world that we are here, that we are visible, that all genders and all flags are important because there are some countries where it’s still illegal to be who you are.
A lot of the time when I’m in Pride I like to learn from other people and teach others what I know.
Read all the personal stories from the Many Voices of Pride campaign here.
