Lesbian Visibility Week!

Hey! I'm Kay from Comics Youth. I’m an illustrator and youth worker and I love my cat. And I’m a lesbian. I’m not going to pretend that being an open and visible dyke isn’t for anyone other than myself and to live my best life BUT I wanna talk about why it is important to celebrate and give platforms to lady loving womxn in all aspects of life! 

I had no idea I was a lesbian or even that they existed in real life for a good portion of my teen years. I lived in a small village and I didn’t know any lesbians. Nobody spoke about them, they weren’t on my tv and they most definitely weren’t in my church. When I did realise that I was probably a big lez, it wasn’t a wave of relief or a weight off my shoulders, it was panic and dread and a lot of questions that I had no one to answer for me. I’d already been bullied for a rumour that I was gay, so no chance of me being able to ‘come out’. There was no talk of LGBTQIA+ history, representation or acceptance within my school and there wasn’t an LGBTQIA+ specific youth club. I didn’t have a single openly gay adult who I could talk to. I didn’t see lesbians having happy normal lives on my tv or even in real life. I was terrified.

The first time I saw two happy lesbians on TV was Glee. I’d walked in on my Mum and sister watching it and immediately needed to consume every bit of media that had any reference to Santana and Britney. I didn’t even relate to the femme lesbian characters I was seeing, but having two women in love and happy and not being ridiculed was enough. It was the first time I felt like I was going to be okay. Glee wasn't the first show to have a couple of lesbians but it was my first positive representation of lesbian visibility and it was so important to me as a confused 15 year old.

It still took me a few years to completely accept myself and be open and it took a while to feel completely comfortable to be open with family - it took longer to feel safe about being open and visible in public. But I’d like to think now, as a 26 year old dyke, I’m in a place where I love my identity and the person I am because of it. I probably mention that I’m a lesbian at least 50 times a day but y’know what, it’s so important to! If one person can see me going about my day as an openly visible lesbian and have that make them feel better about who they might be then that’s boss.

So for lesbian visibility week, shout about how great your lesbian mates are! Tell us about your amazing lesbian neighbours and their collection of cats! Tell everyone about how you love being a big lez! Don’t stop talking all this week about lesbians and why we’re great because it may just be the thing that makes one person feel seen and visible. 

P.s. if you don’t show love and support for trans and non binary lesbians then you’re not welcome in club lesbian TRA.

This blog post is part of our Here and Queer Project. More information coming soon…