Motivated to help and support others
My experience has definitely had some ups and downs but overall a great journey. I first realised I wasn’t straight when I was in year 11. I met this girl who was new to school. We hit it off straight away and we became best friends. My heart starting acting really weird and I had no idea what was happening. I had heard the terms ‘ gay’, ‘lesbian’, ‘straight’ around but no other terms. It wasn’t right I had no idea what these feelings were, but I developed like a crush on a girl for the first time ever? I was shocked and confused.
Overall high school was a very rough time for me so I was already seeking help from Headspace. But one day I went in to talk about these feelings I was having towards this girl, they recommended I go to this program called GASP, which is a Geelong program for people who were like me. I called up, got an intake appointment and went the following Tuesday. GASP has now changed my life and I have met the most amazing people, including my best friend. Not only that, but I have finally discovered who I am and who I’m meant to be. I have been up and down with finding the right ‘label’ for me for both sexuality and gender and even experimented and tried new things. But after attending GASP for 3 years now I have now found out that I’m a pan girl and wouldn’t change for the world.
Since attending GASP every Tuesday I have slowly gained the confidence to open up to people and come out as pan, I have already come out to my mum, dad and other close family and they have accepted me for whom I am. I am proud with who I am and strive to help make a difference in the world, I hope that in the future I too can become a youth worker and work with LGBTQ children and help them get on the right path to life.
This story was written by a young person who attends the Gender & Sexuality Project, facilitated by the City of Greater Geelong’s Youth Development Unit. We’ve kept the contributors of these stories anonymous due to their age. If this story inspires you and you’d like to learn more about their journey, please contact us.