CoP3// LGBT Interviews Notes

A few weeks ago I released an AD on social media on several LGBT pages for interviewees about their LGBT identities and experiences with those identities. Despite having 40+ responses wanting to take part in the interviews only 4 were able to be interviewed, as the remaining did not respond to E-mail or messages since the first response.  The 4 interviewees agreed to not have their full names published and gave permission to refer to them by first name and identity. I won't be writing in depth about our interviews in order to not publicise too deeply into their experiences.

James:
James identifies as a homosexual man, so our interview focused on his experiences from being open about his identity and 'coming out'. James told me about how he first began to realise his identity and what it was like telling others. We also spoke about 'Queer as folk' first being broadcasted at the same time he 'came out' as gay and the representation of gay and LGBT characters in film and media. Having this interview with James also made me aware that Smithers (character from The Simpsons) wasn't being written to be funny because he was gay, but because he was closeted.

Hamish:
Hamish identifies as bisexual, so our interview focused on the representation of bisexuality in film and media as well as his own experiences being attracted to both genders. We discussed how straight women in the past assumed he was secretly gay, because he was also attracted to men and that his sexuality was some how a 'stepping stone'. The idea of bisexuality being a 'fetish' also came up - that being the idea of sexual fantasies involving both genders and how bisexuality is seem as a 'greedy'.

Bryan:
Bryan identities as a homosexual man and lives in the UK studying but is originally from Hong Kong. Our interview focused on his experiences coming out, although he had only just begun to since coming to the UK. We spoke about the LGBT scene over in the west being far more progressive than in the east, because of social and political differences.

Alexis: 
Alexis identities as a trans woman and our interview focused on trans life and her experiences with transitioning from physically male to female. Alexis and I talked about how she first came out as transgender and the reaction her family had to that as well as the negative representation of trans women in the media and on film. Our interview inspired me to begin developing the projects this year for CoP, to represent transgender women. Originally I planned on interviewing more trans women and trans identifying people, but because of personal reasons was never able to do so.