Physical Mathew Long hair as a means it was something “So affirmation Stacey that I, it was for me a of identification way of expressing who I (371-373) among the crowd was as an individual, but also give a hint to my sexuality without making it so obvious” Ongoing ambiguity Mathew Does not disclose reason why I “The sometimes, I just sexual identity as the don’t blurt out “I’m gay” all individual still the time because yes it’s questions sexual I sometimes do double preference guess my own sexuality, cause for like, at the beginning I used to think I was bisexual” Fuel added to the Mathew Anti-LGBTQ we get beat up, if we, “If fire discrimination if any one of us gets shot or killed and branded encourages that fire because of the gay’s within LGBTQ then it gives us even individuals to fight more, it adds fuel to the back, become enraged fire, so it makes us stand to defend sexual one’s up more, be more open, identity. um be more resilient, be like ‘You know what we are gay, but also we’re people, human we’re beings, we breath and we eat just like you do’ and a it’s fight” An unspoken rule Mathew Same-sex affection as somebody “As soon else came in like a was deemed grown up or another kid unacceptable, so or somebody else came affection was in, it immediately, that concealed from affection went away, so others. we hug, we didn’t didn’t kiss, we touch didn’t hands, we just played with our toys and there was quite a distance between us, um so it was, like an unspoken rule” Sexual identity Mathew Would avoid I would go to “When hidden from church be like confrontation of it’d ‘Mm one’s he’s the only guy here religion sexual identity to with really long hair, those within the what is his situation religious community going on right here, so as to prevent what is his happening? people getting the and I would feel a little wrong idea. more, um reserved, I wanna get wouldn’t close to people, I wanna talk to wouldn’t as many people, cause I wouldn’t wanna say the
Physical affirmation Mathew Stacey (371-373) “So it was something that I, it was for me a way of expressing who I was as an individual, but also give a hint to my sexuality without making it so obvious” Long hair as a means of identification among the crowd Ongoing ambiguity Mathew “The reason why I sometimes, I don’t just blurt out “I’m gay” all the time it’s because yes I sometimes do double guess my own sexuality, cause for like, at the beginning I used to think I was bisexual” Does not disclose sexual identity as the individual still questions sexual preference Fuel added to the fire Mathew “If we get beat up, if we, if any one of us gets shot or killed and branded because of the gay’s then it gives us even more, it adds fuel to the fire, so it makes us stand up more, be more open, um be more resilient, be like ‘You know what we are gay, but we’re also people, we’re human beings, we breath and we eat just like you do’ and it’s a fight” Anti-LGBTQ discrimination encourages that fire within LGBTQ individuals to fight back, become enraged to defend one’s sexual identity. An unspoken rule Mathew “As soon as somebody else came in like a grown up or another kid or somebody else came in, it immediately, that affection went away, so we didn’t hug, we didn’t kiss, we didn’t touch hands, we just played with our toys and there was quite a distance between us, um so it was, like an unspoken rule” Same-sex affection was deemed unacceptable, so affection was concealed from others. Sexual identity hidden from religion Mathew “When I would go to church it’d be like ‘Mm he’s the only guy here with really long hair, what is his situation going on right here, what is his happening? and I would feel a little more, um reserved, I wouldn’t wanna get close to people, I wouldn’t wanna talk to as many people, cause I wouldn’t wanna say the Would avoid confrontation of one’s sexual identity to those within the religious community so as to prevent people getting the wrong idea.
29768_Maria_Ines_Shalaby_ERP_Final_286495_1217381129.docx