It’s Time For An LGBTQ+ History Lesson.

Hello my lovelies! I hope you’ve all had a good week and are looking forward to having a little more freedom now that the lockdown rules are slowly reducing. Now, as you may already know, June is pride month. And since this is my first ever pride month being what I would consider ‘officially out’ as pansexual, I’ve been taking some time reading and learning more and more about pride and the history of the LGBTQ+ community.

So for today’s post I’m going to be giving you a brief lesson on some LGBTQ+ history. Most of my knowledge has come from the LGBTQ+ community, the Stonewall charity (thank you for teaching me about important moments and dates in history and supporting the community for so many years), some LGBTQ+ books (I will be making a list of these in another post very soon) and other websites that I have found online.

I’ll be going through the key dates that I’ve learnt about from Stonewall and some of the history I’ve learnt from some LGBTQ+ books I’ve been reading. Also, if you want to learn the history year to year, please check out Stonewall’s ‘Key dates for lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality’ as it’s super informative.

And with all that said and done, let’s jump into our time machine and get started.

One of the biggest moments in LGBTQ+ history, was the Stonewall riots in 1969. These were a number of violent demonstrations by the LBGTQ+ community against a police raid on the Stonewall Inn. The Stonewall Inn was a pub, and it’s patrons had regularly faced unjust harassment by the police; and on Saturday the 28th June 1969, at 1.20am, eight police officers raided the inn. There were around 200 people in the bar that night and they had had enough of being raided time and time again and refused to accept what was happening to them. So, they refused to cooperate with the police.

The police decided they were going to take every person there into custody and to the station, but the police wagons were not there yet. So this meant patrons had to wait in line for 15 minutes, and if they weren’t arrested (it was illegal to serve alcohol to gay people, for gay people to dance together, to be dressed in drag and women were not allowed to be wearing less than three items of feminine clothing) they were released from the front door. However, to the police’s surprise, those released weren’t leaving, instead they stopped outside and a crowd began to form and watch.

After several minutes around 150 people were stood outside, and when the first police wagon arrived the crowd had increased to at least ten times the number of people who had been arrested. The crowd was tense, and it was when a lesbian was hit on the head with a club after saying her handcuffs were too tight whilst being escorted/thrown into to the police wagon that the crowd finally snapped.

The crowd then attempted to overturn the police wagon, and beer bottles and bricks were thrown. The police were outnumbered by approximately 600 people, ten officers barricaded themselves in the Stonewall Inn for their own safety as everything was being thrown at the building, from bottles to bins; smashing all of the windows and then a parking meter was uprooted and used as a battering ram on the Stonewall Inns doors.

The police trapped in the inn were then freed by the Tactical Police Force of the New York City Police Department when they arrived. And they arrested anyone they could get their hands on and put them in wagons ready to go to jail.

By 4am that same night/day (early morning? However you like to class the early hours of the morning), the streets were finally clear. 13 people were arrested, with some members who were in the crowd being hospitalised and four police officers injured.

Pretty much everything in the Stonewall Inn was broken. No one knows if it was from the riot or the police.

The news of the riot quickly spread through Greenwich Village and then, the following night, the rioting surrounding Christopher street began again. Thousands gathered in front of Stonewall, which had reopened. The crowd filled Christopher street and spilled out into the near streets. Fires were started in bins, and then the police arrived once again with the battle continuing until 4am the next morning.

On the Wednesday, approximately 1000 protesters gathered once again, with another battle between the crowd and police taking place. Protesters and police were injured, shops were looted and five people were arrested.

And that was the riots that put a lot of wheels in motion for the LGBTQ+ community and the changes needing to be made.

A few years after the riots, the first Pride was held in London in 1972, attracting around 2000 participants and has grown ever since!

And then in July 2013 the Marriage Act 2013 was passed in the UK Parliament which then came into force in 2014 with the first same-sex marriages in England and Wales taking place on the 29th March 2014!

Love is love. Love will always win.

I could make this post about 1 million times longer because we have a lot of history. You can check out a timeline here which was put together by Stonewall. And finally, last bit of history for today, here are some names you need to know and remember:

• Sylvia Rivera – a queer, Latina and self-identified drag queen who fought tirelessly for transgender rights and the rights of gender non-conforming people and was said to have thrown the first brick in the Stonewall riots. She also started S.T.A.R. (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) which is a group focused on providing shelter ans support to queer homeless young people with Marsha P. Johnson. She also fought against the exclusion of trans people in New York’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act.

• Marsha P. Johnson – a black trans woman, sex worker and activist who spent the majority of her life fighting for equality. She was a mother figure to drag queens, trans women and homeless youth. She was alongside Sylvia during the Stonewall riots and founded S.T.A.R together. They were central to the start of the gay liberation movement of the 1970s in the US.

• Josephine Baker – a bisexual woman and entertainer of the Jazz Age. She was one of the most successful African-American performers in French history and used her platform as an entertainer to advocate for desegregation. She refused to perform in venues that were segregated and even spoke at the 1963 March on Washington. Josephine also served as a spy for the French in WW2, passing secrets along that she heard from the German soldiers when she performed for them.

• Karl Heinrich Ulrichs – a gay man who was the first person to publicly ‘come out’. He was a judge in Germany until his colleagues found out he was gay in 1854, after resigning he became an activist for gay rights.

• Michael Dillon – the first trans man to undergo reassignment surgery and transition. He then became a doctor and then served as a naval doctor.

• Bayard Rustin – an openly gay man who was a close friend of Martin Luther King Jr, and organiser of the 1963 March on Washington.

There’s so many incredible people that are a part of our history, and if today’s post has taught you anything (I hope it has!), it’s that learning about your history is important and you can never stop learning!

Did you learn anything new from today’s post? Are you celebrating pride this month? I’m excited to be celebrating my first pride and I am extremely grateful for all of those who have fought for what we have right now. Love will always win. Happy Pride Month my loves!

Have a great weekend my lovelies, stay safe!

Love,

If you can, please check out the link here to sign petitions you might not have seen yet, donate and help fight racism! #BlackLivesMatter

Being An Apprentice.

Happy Saturday lovelies! How’s your week been? Mine has been pretty busy but great, because I finally received my certificates for my apprenticeship! Which led to the post I’ve decided to write today!

Here’s a little about me that you might not know; I’m 23, and I’ve been working as an apprentice for the last year and a half. And this week I got my certificate for finishing another qualification level in social media and marketing and I’ve just enrolled to do the next level up for the next 2 years!

Here I am with my college assessor getting my certificates!

Part of why I decided to write this post is because I was reminded this past week that we rarely celebrate our achievements and successes, and it’s important that we do, because even the smallest successes are just that, successes.

Celebrating the little things are important because it increases your self-confidence, self-esteem, it creates a positive mood and you can learn what helped you and why you succeeded so you can do it again!

So, why did I become an apprentice?

I decided to become an apprentice after being unhappy working in a supermarket for a little over a year doing shift work with little sleep. I am however, still grateful for that experience as it helped me develop my people skills!

I never really knew what I wanted to do as a career, other than that I wanted to do something creative. And when I decided I wanted to change jobs, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, and it was then that I started thinking about uni and why I didn’t go to university.

There’s several reasons why uni just wasn’t/isn’t for me right now. One being that I couldn’t pick what I wanted to study, there’s too many options and I’m very indecisive. And secondly, because of that, I don’t want to start a degree and then realise it isn’t for me and have student debt at the back of my mind.

So, it was then that I figured an apprenticeship or traineeship was the right thing for me to do. And here’s why: I get to earn money whilst I learn and gain a new qualification and skill, I don’t have to pay for my training, I get experience in a field I’m interested in, get trained in something completely new and I get to join a team of great people.

So where do I work?

For the past year and a half I have been working for a great non-profit organisation called The SUN Network as a social media and marketing manager apprentice. The SUN Network is a small organisation and we gather feedback from people who have accessed/tried to access/are accessing mental health or drug and alcohol services within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, as we believe the people who have accessed the services are the best to influence and shape how those services work in the future.

At The SUN Network we amplify people’s voices and help create opportunities for them to be involved by attending workshops, meetings and by anonymously and confidentially sharing their experiences with services. Working at The SUN Network is great because there’s only 5 of us in the entire team, and we all have lived experiences with mental health and/or drug and alcohol challenges, so we are all very passionate about being able to help other people.

Being 23 and an apprentice does feel a little weird sometimes, partly because apprenticeships are usually associated with people just coming out of school who haven’t worked before. But, I then just remind myself that everyone does things at their own pace, and I love my apprenticeship, job and team. And I love that I am learning new skills whilst getting paid!

If you’re wondering whether or not you want to go to uni or an apprenticeship, I suggest having a look around the different universities and looking online for apprenticeship opportunities, and then you can decide what is best for you. Moral of the story is that you’re never too late to try something new, who knows, you might find your calling!

And that’s it from me for today, it’s a short and sweet post this week because I’ve been super busy! But I always love making some time to write/chat with you. Maybe in a few weeks I’ll let you know what a day in my life and job is like. Have a great week everyone!!

Love,

Learning To Play An Instrument.

Hello lovelies! How was everyone’s week? Are you looking forward to the Bank Holiday Monday? I know I am! So, you can probably guess from the title of today’s post what I’ll be chatting/writing about. I have been learning to play the piano!

Ever since I was little I wanted to be musically talented. You know what it’s like, ‘I want to be a popstar!’ and all that. But, sadly for me, that was not to be. I have zero musical abilities and have tried, failed and vowed to only listen to music over and over again and give up on my dreams of being able to play an instrument and sing.

Well, about a month and a bit ago, I decided that I was going to learn to play the piano once again. And this time I promised myself that this time I WOULD NOT GIVE UP. If you’ve been in this position before and tried to learn an instrument then you’re likely familiar with feeling super motivated and determined and then trying to play a tutorial from YouTube and then realising you’re in over your head. And then giving up.

Also it didn’t help that last time I tried to teach myself the piano I was trying to do it on a small kiddies keyboard that was bright pink.. you know the ones, you get them from Argos for about £20. Bargain for young kids who are just starting out if you ask me! But maybe not ideal if you’re teaching yourself.. especially if you’re in your twenties..

And when I tried to learn before I had no intention of starting with the basics, I couldn’t read sheet music, couldn’t use both hands to play anything and just generally couldn’t do anything other than the start of maybe one song without any cords.

So, what changed this time?

Well, I decided I wanted to learn to play again when I found a fairly decent keyboard in our loft! This time I WAS going to learn and I was going to take it seriously and practice everyday and actually have some structure to how I was going to learn.

I’d seen adverts for the app Simply Piano (by JoyTunes) more times than I could count so I thought I’d give that a go. The app is a subscription based app but for me, I figured that would give me the motivation I needed to keep learning and not give up on it.

The subscription is about £38 for three months I think, which originally I thought was a lot, but when you think about how much actual lessons with a tutor cost per session, its really cheap! (By the way this isn’t an ad or anything, this is just what I’ve been using and liking!)

So.. on to how the last month and a bit has been. Well, I have been doing at least 30 minutes of piano practice everyday (I try to do 1 hour per day, but sometimes you just haven’t got the time!) and I am actually seeing progress!

I can now read sheet music, which I never had any idea on where to start in learning how to read music before. So that’s as big achievement for me. Also, I can now play quite a few songs with sheet music and I’ve been learning how to play some piano songs I’ve loved forever with the help of some easy YouTube tutorials.

One song I’m super proud of myself for learning (it’s only the super simplified easy version) is Yiruma – River Flows In You. I’ve added the video I learnt from below! Totally recommend this channel for beginner piano tutorials!

I’m definitely going to continue learning and practising the piano because I absolutely love it and I feel like it’s helped me with my mental health too. Music is something I’ve always used to relax and just tune out of whats around me, so being able to play it means the world to me! And I never imagined I would get as far as I have with my learning, and I’m not embarrassed to say I’m super proud of myself for sticking with it!

There are some things to remember when learning to play a new instrument or skill in general; first up, don’t give up! We all have bad days and good days, so even if you’re having a bad day and just can’t seem to get into a groove (pun intended haha), keep trying! Because the next day, you might be able to do whatever you struggled with without any issues!

Schedule away some time everyday to practice, so you know you’ve got time to work on yourself! This has really helped me to keep up with my lessons and progress, because if I didn’t put a reminder in my phone, I’d completely forget to practice.

Learning a new skill won’t happen overnight. It takes patience, practice and time!

Finally, BE PROUD OF YOURSELF. Making the decision to learn a new skill, no matter what it is, can be nerve racking, but so worth it! So be proud of the little things, for me learning to recognise a note on sheet music is huge for me, because I never imagined I’d be able to read music.

Here’s me playing River Flows In You based from the video above! Please be nice, I know it isn’t perfect (and I didn’t have the cables to record it any other way so the quality isn’t great..) but we all gotta start somewhere!

 

Another thing I’m super proud of is that I’m beginning to be able to play with both hands consistently without looking at them both constantly, which is pretty incredible coming from someone who would play the right hand from music tutorials with both hands..

Alright, I think that’s enough waffling on from me for today haha! Let me know in the comments what instrument you play or would love to learn to play. Also, when I’m confident in my keyboard/piano skills is that something you would want to see? Let me know!!

Have a great day everyone! And Happy May Day for Monday!

Love,

p.s. Here’s me playing the extremely simplified version of ‘Comptine d’un autre été’ from the same YouTube Channel shown above!

 

Life Lessons To Remember

So this week I’ve realised that 1.) I’ve come a long way with my eating disorder treatment, and 2.) I’ve learnt a load of lessons not only about myself but about how I should see the world; and this is why I’m writing this today. What made me come to this realisation is the fact that I got my haircut, well, I got bangs.

Why would getting bangs make me have this big realisation you ask? Well because I had been thinking about getting bangs FOR AGES (I was totally inspired by Devin Lytle’s hair – fellow thin hair gal who is amazing, who works for Buzzfeed and is in Buzzfeed’s Ladylike which I LOVE along with all the ladies there so you should defo check them out!) but every time I went to get booked in at the hair dressers I chickened out because I thought it might look bad and that people would think I looked stupid. That’s when it hit me, why am I worried about what other people think?! All that matters is what I think and if I want bangs then I should just get some damn bangs cut!

Once this realisation hit me, I decided to book in a haircut to get bangs, and because I’m ridiculously indecisive I actually ordered some clip in bangs to check if I definitely wanted them. Here’s the bangs I ordered:

Once these arrived I did ask people what they thought, and they weren’t sure that it would suit me and then I realised that if I liked them, and I wanted them, I should get them cut no matter what anyone else thinks.

Something I was scared about was that my boyfriend wouldn’t like how I look with them, especially since he wasn’t sure that they’d suit me; but guess what, he told me to get them cut anyway because he knows that my opinion is what matters most and that he’ll love how I look no matter what (and to be honest, he’s seen me at my worst so I couldn’t get much worse than that haha). And with that sense of ‘it’s my hair so I’ll do what I want with it and I’ll rock it no matter what’ in my head, I went and got it cut.

And guess what?! I think I look pretty with them.. (that feels weird to say but I’m trying to be nicer to myself).

Ok, now that I’ve rambled on about my hair for long enough, let’s actually get back to why I’m writing this post.. here’s some life lessons I’ve finally learnt:

1. If you want to try something new with your appearance (or really anything in life – providing it isn’t harming anyone duh) and are unsure, just give it a go; you’ll often find that you’ll rock it and look great!

2. Confidence is key. (I’m still working on this one but I’ve realised that if you act like you’re confident even when you’re not, everyone around you will think you’re a boss ass b*tch. And you’ll look good because quite frankly, confidence is sexy and looks good).

3. When it comes to your body and appearance, your opinion is the only one that matters, and anyone that tells you how or what you should look like can go f*ck themselves because you’re perfect as you are.

4. Self care is not being selfish. You gotta take care of yourself! After all, you’ll be living with yourself for the rest of your life.

5. Learn to accept compliments without putting yourself down after hearing them. If someone is complimenting you, (unless it’s unsolicited catcalling from a stranger, in which case.. they can eff off) it’s because they want to, no one is forcing them; and why wouldn’t they want to compliment you?! You’re great!

6. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of strength and you’ll find you feel so much better after asking for help. Plus you’ll find that you’re probably going to make some really great, reliable friends along the way.

7. No number defines your worth, whether it’s on the scales, on your clothing labels, social followers/likes or your bank account. You are worth so much more than any stupid numbers!!

8. And finally, sugar and chocolate WILL NOT KILL YOU. Eat what you want, when you want it. Nothing is unhealthy in moderation so try to stop labelling food, because that’s all it is. Food. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s just food that tastes good and nourishes your body.

So that’s what I’ve learnt recently, and if you’ve ever had some realisations of life lessons yourself, definitely let me know what they are! Also, to finish, to the right is a selfie of me and my new hair in case you haven’t seen my insta, because why shouldn’t I show this off?!

Oh and buy the way, I totally recommend trying out clip in hair pieces (when it’s cheap) if you’re thinking of changing up your look but aren’t sure yet, here’s the clip in bangs I bought (I did trim mine but do what you want with them!).

Hope this helps any of you out there who tend to worry about what other people think about your appearance (aka people like me.. I’m working on that haha) and remember, your opinion of yourself is the most important!

A little life quote to end: “A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms”.

Have a great weekend everyone!! Love,