UniQ

Words by Billie Angus (she/they)

Growing up as a queer youth is a very weird experience. 

You think you’re all alone until you meet other LGBTQIA+ people, and realise you all felt the same. Somewhat. Things are very clear in hindsight. I didn’t meet another gay person until high school. I learnt what that was online at the age of twelve. Before then, it had never occurred to me before, never popped up in my experience, that you could be attracted to anyone other than what you see around you. 

With the rise of the internet, that is becoming less and less frequent. Rather than kids not knowing anything about why they’re different, there are whole communities, easy to access, showing them that these feelings they have are normal. And that it’s okay to explore. I love the quote from Dolly Parton—“Find out who you are, and do it on purpose.” It’s cool that kids are getting the opportunities to explore themselves! To be introduced to new concepts that might spark that feeling of “hey, that’s me!” The way it did to me in high school. And again just last year, as I discovered what being agender was. 

That isn’t to say your identity remains stagnant. It certainly doesn’t. And that’s okay. You might have presented yourself as a girl in your youth, only to discover you’re not one later on. That doesn’t mean you weren’t okay with it at the time (though maybe you weren’t). Things change. You grow. And getting the opportunity to explore that, rather than never being able to question it, that’s a wonderful thing.