{"id":7585,"date":"2021-02-10T12:55:14","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T12:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/?p=7585"},"modified":"2021-12-20T15:01:15","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T15:01:15","slug":"my-lgbtq-experience-at-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2021\/02\/10\/my-lgbtq-experience-at-york\/","title":{"rendered":"From Closeted to Confident – My LGBTQ Experience at York"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For many students going to university is an important milestone, a rite of passage followed by independence and self-discovery. For me – an LGBTQ student, that could never have been more true. I had high hopes that starting University would allow me to finally be myself, and York definitely delivered.<\/strong> Although it wasn’t always plain sailing, I am super happy about where I am today. I am excited to share my journey with you, and whoever else will listen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am now in my fourth year of studying Biology at York<\/a>. As well as being a keen baker and plant lover, I am also the chair of the University\u2019s LGBTQ Social society<\/a>. But being so confident and passionate talking about my identity is something that I would never have envisioned back in Sixth Form. Lots of my LGBTQ friends have also felt this way, and it could be that you are reading this feeling the same. I hope that my story shows you that you don’t have to have everything worked out before you come to uni. It is a brilliant place for you to find your community and your identity – whatever it may be.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I came to York<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although York now feels like my home I actually grew up in a small town in Suffolk. There are no motorways in Suffolk as there is simply nowhere to go. It is an incredibly rural county where everyone seems to know everyone. Now, this isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing; and I do love the countryside. However, it made growing up as LGBTQ a little difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realised that I was transgender sometime in Year 11. Although my high school friends were amazing about it, I couldn’t help but crave support from other LGBTQ folk like myself. In such a small community I was also really conscious of being earmarked as \u201cthe queer one\u201d. Even if it was never meant maliciously, I didn’t want to end up being defined by one small part of my identity. I, therefore, spent my time at Sixth Form really looking forward to going to university as I knew it would make it easier to be myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making the decision to go to York<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I went to my first university open day it felt like I was opening up a door to a whole other world. Campuses were full of such a diverse range of students, pride flags were hung freely, and at York, many of the staff wore rainbow lanyards! One student showing me around even asked for my pronouns – I was sold! Although lots of universities have a very similar open and accepting atmosphere, in the end, I chose York because of the community feel on campus and the overall safeness of the city<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting University<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before I knew it it was time to move to York. However, despite my ambitions, starting university didn’t go quite how I had planned. You face a lot of new challenges when you first move into university and on top of that, I had put so much pressure on myself to find my community and come out to my new flat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first few weeks of being at York, I didn’t venture too much out of my comfort zone. At the time I was worried about talking to new people. But I now know that it was perfectly normal to feel nervous! My advice would be that you don’t have to do everything within the first week, take your time to get used to your new surroundings. <\/strong>It is perfectly fine to wait till you feel most comfortable to come out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding my community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the fourth week of term, I plucked up the courage to go on a bar crawl with the LGBTQ Social society. At York, we have 2 main LGBTQ groups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n