A place for connection, learning & belonging

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For as long as I can remember I have always loved rainbows. It wasn’t until January 2017 when I saw a post on facebook advertising the Midsumma Carnival that I became aware of the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole and in Geelong, the post read "If you are aged between 12- 25 and would like to come with GASP to Midsumma Carnival there's still time to RSVP".

Now at the time I had no idea what GASP was and had never even been to a carnival before but was eager to go and this seemed like the perfect opportunity so I RSVP'd and off I went. I'll never forget the train ride to Melbourne, I didn’t know anyone at all but everyone was super friendly, I remember being so confused as to whether this person that I was sitting next to was a boy or a girl, this was all new to me and I didn’t really know anything about the LGBT community let alone the terms used, what the terms were or what they meant. But regardless of my puzzlement I had a fabulous day at the carnival, there was something about the atmosphere that was just magical, I felt so welcome and felt a sense of belonging. I bought the first of my many rainbow flags and other rainbow items that day.

When mum picked me up I was so happy and practically covered from head to toe in rainbows, she asked me about my day and if I made any friends and I found myself stumbling over the words 'he' and 'she' because I couldn’t decide what that person was. A couple of weeks later I went to the pride march with GASP and it just as amazing!

About 3 weeks after that I attended my first GASP session. The first thing I learnt was pronouns (how a person is or would like to be referred to eg. he / she / they) one by one they went around the group and said their name and pronouns. Three years later I still attend GASP sessions, I have been to many more LGBTQIA+ events since then and my knowledge of the LGBTQIA+ community has grown significantly. I may not know where I fit in in the LGBTQIA+ community yet but I know I feel comfortable, welcome, loved and that I belong here.

  • 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.

GASP Geelong