Queer young people starting university in the UK have said they would feel comfortable ‘coming out’ at the start of their degree in a recent study.
Kaya Harris, a 22-year-old politics student from Doncaster, experienced her ‘gay awakening’ after meeting other LGBTQ+ students at university in Sheffield.
She said: “In secondary school, I just knew that I didn’t like boys.”
UCAS and Stonewall, an LGBTQ+ rights charity, found over 80% of university students felt like they could be open about their queer identity or sexual orientation.
Stonewall said they hope this is because higher education institutions are becoming a more queer-inclusive place for students.
Miss Haris said: “I didn’t realise I could like girls in that way because there just isn’t enough representation in Doncaster.
“But then I met other queer people in Sheffield in the first year of uni and I realised, hang on, I’m a fucking dyke.”
According to Stonewall, ‘coming out’ is sometimes the first time LGBTQ+ individuals can truly be open with the people closest to them.
However, the fear of facing discrimination, bullying, or judgement can cause LGBTQ+ people to stay ‘in the closet’.
Miss Harris said: “I only knew one other gay person from another school and when he got outed in the dinner hall, people threw food at him.”
Miss Harris came out to her parents after she got into her first queer relationship.
She said: “It’s one thing admitting you like girls, but it’s much harder to admit that you don’t like men too in a world that is ran by the fuckers.”
There is an LGBTQ+ Society at Sheffield University who run events for queer students, as well as a ‘gay night’ called Grapefruit at the Students’ Union.
Lots of pocket queer groups have popped up over the last few years in Sheffield, including Sheffield Radical Pride, an LGBTQ+ group fighting the commercialisation of Pride.
First celebrated one year after the 1987 National March in Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, 11 October marks the day millions of LGBTQ+ identifying individuals celebrate ‘coming out’.
The aim of International Coming Out Day is to strengthen the LGBTQ+ community and release the stigma from ‘coming out’.