The Chronicles of Queerantine

As we all adjust to the new normal we wanted to check in to see how everyone was getting on, in a new series we call The Chronicles of Queerantine. Today, we chat with some of the fabulous ShoutOut Board of Directors.

Here we have Anna, Eoin, Clare and Paul!

How are you though?

Anna: Up and down!

Eoin: Calm.

Clare: A bit gloomy it has to be said, but healthy and safe.

Paul: I'm good. I'm getting used to the new normal and work is busy, which helps.

Where are you quarantining?

Anna: Our little one-bed apartment with my partner.

Eoin: Apartment in London.

Clare: I live in Bethnal Green in East London with three lovely friends.

Paul: My boyfriend and I are in our apartment in London

Do have a non-human friend with you? Dog? Cat? Spider?

Anna: I wish!

Eoin: Do plants count? We've registered to become foster parents for a dog/cat so let's see.

Clare: I wish!

Paul: Alas, no non-human friends

Favourite series to binge during the quarantine?

Anna: Atypical on Netflix

Eoin: Ozark.

Clare: Riverdale, it’s so fun.

Paul: I'm watching old sitcoms like Dinnerladies on Netflix (which is an absolute scream)

Riverdale

What is your quarantine snack of choice?

Anna: Tea and scones with raspberry jam. I got a premix pack in Tesco for less than a euro so it feels like I’ve done some baking and I get the baking smell but all I’ve done is mix up the batter with milk.

Eoin: Banana bread and wine.

Clare: Cubes of assorted fancy cheese.

Paul: I've gotten really into kiwis and bourbon creams.

Share with us a positive thing that has happened to you during the quarantine?

Anna: I’m 18 weeks pregnant and I’m starting to feel my baby move!

Eoin: Rediscovered stillness and an appreciation for the small things.

Clare: I've definitely gotten to know my local area a lot better from all the daily walks. Even though I live in a built-up city, there are so many interesting little pockets of green that I now have the time to discover. My favourite is definitely taking a spooky stroll through Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. It's a beautiful old cemetery filled with flowers and ancient trees.

Paul: I've called my family so much more and focussed more on talking to the wonderful people in my life. I'm also reading more and cooking more elaborately.

Because not everything is rainbows, what sucks about the quarantine?

Anna: I’m getting bigger every day and I can’t go clothes shopping. Even my comfy clothes are uncomfortable.

Eoin: Not hugging friends.

Clare: Not to be hetero on main but I miss seeing my boyfriend!

Paul: Definitely being separated from my family. I haven't been home since Christmas and I don't know when I will get to next. Some of them have been unwell and it's hard not to worry but everyone's okay and that's all that really matters.

When at home, are you bear foot, socks, slippers or full-on wearing shoes?

Anna: Fluffy sloth slippers all-day

Eoin: Slippers all day every day

Clare: I'm an unashamed advocate of Birkenstocks and socks.

Paul: I got new slippers for this specifically, and they are a dream.

Any quarantine tunes to recommend?

Anna: Dua Lipa Don’t Start Now.

Eoin: Heroes by David Bowie.

Clare: Dolly Parton's Light of a Clear Blue Morning never fails to cheer me up and remind me of all the good times to come.

Paul: I saw a wonderful drag queen called Kate Butch just before this all kicked off and I've had Babooshka in my head ever since. Honourable mentions to Heart to Break by Kim Petra and Missing You by Robyn.

Who is your current Queero? The LGBTQ+ person you love and look up to.

Anna: Every single beautiful queer that I have met during my time with Shoutout. I love you all xoxo

Eoin: Currently have a fascination with playwright/composer Noel Coward. He was unapologetically his fabulous self

Clare: Jacqueline Wilson for sure. I was always so impressed by her ability to take children's lives and experiences seriously and never patronise her readers. I'm very excited to read her new book about a same-sex relationship even though I am 26. I know it will mean a lot to a lot of people. Honourable mention to PJ and Kevin from the I'm Grand Mam podcast, who consistently provide me with my best laugh of the week. But also speak so honestly and openly about growing up gay and learning to feel comfortable in their own skin. A reminder of why ShoutOut is so important!

Paul: Aifric and Bella, our wonderful ShoutOut staff, have been doing an amazing job leading ShoutOut through all of this so they're definitely my Queeros of the moment!

We will march again

ShoutOut to our LGBTQ+ Role Models: Intersex Folks

This is the last post in our series where we ShoutOut to our LGBTQ+ role models. You can read ShoutOuts to Lesbian and Queer Woman, Gay and Queer Men, Bi folks, Trans folks, Pan people, and Ace people! This blog is a ShoutOut to the incredible Intersex heroes who enrich our lives.

Written by a Intersex ShoutOut volunteer and amazing human who will be anonymous for this post. Here are their icons:

ShoutOut marching in Dublin Pride 2019 with Intersex Pride Flags

As an intersex person, it can be difficult to meet others  - never mind find intersex icons to admire. Hopefully after you’ve read this though, you’ll realise that intersex people a pretty awesome group! There are many incredible intersex people to admire, here are only a few.

Hanne Gaby Odiele

Hanne Gaby Odiele is a Belgian model who publically came out as intersex in 2017. Since then, she’s been a vocal advocate for the intersex community - partnering with InterAct, and raising awareness through interviews with major publications like Teen Vogue and The Times (U.K.). In these interviews, she’s raised crucial points

It’s also just pretty cool to have an intersex person be such a beauty icon! Odiele has appeared on the cover of Vogue and Revue de Modes and booked some of the industry's most lucrative campaigns, including those for Balenciaga, Vera Wang, and DKNY Jeans.

Caster Semenya

Semenya is a double Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion runner over 800m. However, since her rise to world champion in 2009, her gender, and possible advantages in her biology due to an intersex variation, have been under the microscope. The International Association of Athletics Federations proposed a rule to restrict the level of testosterone permitted in female runners in events between 400m and a mile - a proposal Semenya unsuccessfully challenged.

Arguably the most important part of the case? Sport has traditionally been divided into male and female categories, but Semenya’s case highlights that because of elite intersex athletes, it may be an artificially binary distinction.

Emily Quinn

Emily describes herself as a ‘ballsy intersex activist who uses humor and storytelling to create a more welcoming world for people who don’t fit in a box.’ Ballsy indeed, given she rose to prominence when she came out on MTV! She uses her YouTube channel and any other platform she can get (such as her Ted Talk to raise awareness of intersex issues and to generally show people that it’s okay to be different.

Pidgeon Pagonis

Pidgeon is an activist on behalf of not just intersex people, but also marginalised communities more generally. They are a youth advocate with InterAct, a YouTuber and even sell intersex - positive merch. Possibly most notable, they’re known for railing against normalising surgeries being carried out on intersex infants in their native Chicago. Pagonis was even one of nine LGBT artists honoured as an Obama White House Champion of Change in 2015.

Kimberly Zieleman

Kimberly is the Executive Directly of InterACT, an organisation which advocates for children born with intersex traits. She is a fearless leader to the world of Intersex human rights, especially for young people. As an intersex woman, Kimberly has written a memoir called XOXY which we have preordered and can’t wait to read!

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Intersex Ireland is a new organisation advocating for intersex people in Ireland! You can contact them intersex.ie@gmail.com and follow them on twitter!

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Honourable mentions go to Kitty Anderson, Hida Viloria, Miriam van der Have, and the list goes on and on. Check out some here!

Beyond this, nowadays there are tons of intersex activists telling their stories online such as Irene and Audrey which you can see here.

Who are your intersex icons?

ShoutOut to our LGBTQ+ Role Models: Pansexual People!

Next up in our series, is Judith Finlay! Judith is a ShoutOut volunteer and she sits on the executive team, the team of volunteers which help run ShoutOut on a day-to-day basis. Judith is wonderful! Not only does she travel to schools all around to deliver ShoutOut workshops, she recently dyed her hair to raise money for ShoutOut!

Here are Judith’s pan icons!

Pansexuality is part of the wonderful bisexual family, with bisexual being an umbrella term that includes all types of sexual attraction to multiple genders. Although the term has existed since 1917 many people (including me!) have only become familiar with it in recent years, but it’s a term that better describes the particular type of bisexuality we experience. Fun fact about the Pansexual flag, it was created in 2010 and consists of the colours yellow, cyan and magenta, the three primary colours of light.

Labels are there to help individuals navigate their identity in the world, so only you can decide your labels and how you experience them. Every person experiences their identity in a way that is unique to them. So, as with every type of identity, pansexual people have many different ways to define this identity, and how they experience it, and that’s cool! Your identity is as beautifully individual as you are.

For some, pansexual differs from bisexual in that it is attraction to people REGARDLESS of gender, and bisexuality is attraction to 2 or more genders. Both terms are inclusive of trans and non binary folks, of course!

I wasn’t familiar with the term pansexual growing up in Ireland, so I always have identified as bisexual and my role models growing up where all of the amazing artists and musicians who identified as bisexual too (see the fab post on bi-icons by Lisa earlier this week!). When I discovered the term pansexual it gave me the language to explain the particular type of bisexual attraction I experience, which is often referred to as ‘gender blind’. This doesn’t cancel out the term bisexual for me, I still identify as both, but it helps me understand my experience of attraction better.

Here are some inspiring and awesome pan-icons blazing a trail for pan people everywhere. The list below are people who have identified as pansexual or have moved between labels. Many pansexual people also identify as bisexual, seeing these two labels as applicable to their own identity, there is, of course, a difference and that difference is important to many people

Asia Kate Dillon

Asia Kate Dillon is a ground breaking American non-binary actor who uses they/them pronouns. They played Brandy Epps in Orange Is the New Black and Taylor Mason in Billons. Their role in Billions was the first non-binary main character in a North American television show. For this, they earned a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination for Best Support Actor in a Drama Series in this role, but more importantly they have helped raised awareness of non-binary and pansexual identities not only through these roles but also through a series of interviews explaining these labels in a very relatable way. They also played the Adjudicator in the 2019 film John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

Lizzo

Lizzo, is today’s queen of soul and rap, echoing the legendary Aretha Franklin in her astounding vocal range and rock star confidence. She is also a spectacular flutist, a pretty unique talent for most of today’s famous musicians! Although she’s been making music for many years, she caught the world’s attention and gained a massive queer fanbase with songs her intoxicating brand of music and performance focused on self-love, honesty, confidence and body positivity. Songs like “Good as Hell” celebrate what it means to be different and to celebrate that difference. She has even dubbed her fans "Lizzbians". It’s no wonder Time named her the 2019 "Entertainer of the Year". Lizzo is also an actress performing the voice overs for animated film UglyDolls, appearing in the crime comedy-drama film Hustlers, as well as a wide range of magazines and ad campaigns. When asked about her gender and sexuality, Lizzo has used the term pansexual among others to identify herself, with her most recent statement saying "I personally don't ascribe to just one thing.... That's why the colours for LGBTQ+ are a rainbow! Because there's a spectrum and right now we try to keep it black and white”.

Brandon Boyd Urie

Brendon Boyd Urie is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist of Panic! At the Disco. Her formed Panic! In 2004 with a group of childhood friends and since then they have released multiple albums, winning a range of awards. Brendon is now the only original member of the band remaining. As I was raised on musicals like Rocky Horror Picture show and Cabaret, I love that Brendon combined his musical talent with theatre in 2017, taking up the lead role in the Broadway Production of Cyndi Lauper’s musical Kinky Boots. They truly are amazing boots! In July 2018, Brendon described himself as pansexual saying that he is ‘married to a woman and I'm very much in love with her but I'm not opposed to a man because to me, I like a person. ... If a person is great, then a person is great.’ Sweet! And for more evidence that Brendon is a sweetheart, check out ‘The Puppy Interview with Brendon Urie’ on YouTube!

Janelle Monáe

Janelle Monáe Robinson is a highly talented, experimental singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, producer and co-founder of the Wondaland Arts Society, a collective of experimental artists. Janelle released her first demo in 2003 followed by a series of conceptual EPs and albums, she starred in Hidden Figures and the renowned coming-of-age film Moonlight, winner of Best Picture at the 89th annual Academy Awards. Moonlight was the first all-black cast, queer-related film ever to win Best Picture. In 2018 Janelle’s music career reached new heights too, with her album Dirty Computer earning two Grammy nominations and international fame. Boston City Council named October 16, 2013 "Janelle Monáe Day" in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, in recognition of her artistry and social leadership. In 2018 Janell stated that she identifies with both bisexuality and pansexuality.

Shout out to many other pan icons who I wish I had more time to talk about here! Joe Lycett, Christine and the Queens, Suzannah Powell also known as Boyfriend, Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, Mary Edna González, Nayland Blake and Miley Cyrus. Role models and icons can often be fictional too, and its great to see an increase in pansexual representation, with Deadpool (confirmed as pansexual by co-creator Fabian Nicieza in 2013!), Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who, Ola Neyman in Sex Education, Klaus in Umbrella Academy and Yara Greyjoy in Game of Thrones.

Who are your pan icons?

ShoutOut to our LGBTQ+ Role Models: Asexual folks!

It’s day 5 of our LGBTQ+ tribute series and it’s over to Stephen Turner. Stephen is one of ShoutOut’s most experienced (and loveliest) volunteers. Stephen has delivered dozens of ShoutOut workshops to hundreds and hundreds of secondary school students!

Today, Stephen does a ShoutOut to his Ace heros.

Our Stephen x

I came to the term being part of my identity a lot later than being gay. My first exposure to the word was listening to one of my favourite actors Kenneth Williams discussing it.

His sexuality was always tacitly open. His diaries would talk about homosexual experience, but it was a television interview that gave me the word asexual.  He said he "reproduces purely asexually". To my young mind, I think was eleven or twelve the first time I saw it, it meant nothing really.  The more I encountered interviews with him or programmes about him the more I understood that he didn't usually have sex with anyone, despite the best efforts of his friends.

Looking at it now, his firm understanding of himself and how he carried himself I'm his life and work proves that being asexual is nothing to be ashamed of.

Kenneth Williams

Coming to the understanding of myself one of the people I turned to was AmeliaAce and their YouTube channel.  They do short, clear and witty videos explaining asexuality that helped me recognise my own feelings. They do a particularly useful video on the History of Asexuality, showing that asexuality has been used as a term since the 1890s. X was added to the Kinsey Scale in the 1940s to represent Ace folks. It’s really interesting!

AmeliaAce

Another YouTube channel was Jenna Clare.

Similar to Amelia, they were quick and easy to understand.  They went into a lot of detail abbot the shades of asexuality.  It's not just not liking sex. Like every other sexuality, it's as individual as the person who uses the identity.

Which can lead to a lot of confusion but they have both helped me navigate that.

Jenna Clare

While it’s difficult to apply labels to people who are no longer with us, many people consider Nikola Tesla and Florence Nightingale to be apart of the Ace community. And of course, there is our hotel hero, Francis Brennan!

The Ace Pride Flag as Kittens, because why not!

By Irene Koh, click the photo for more!

Remember, being asexual is valid!

ShoutOut to our LGBTQ+ Role Models: Gay and Queer Men!

It’s day four of our LGBTQ+ tribute series and it’s up to Spencer Christie, volunteer and Executive Team member, to take the reins. While gay men are often at the top of the ‘privilege pyramid’ when it comes to queer identities, Spencer will share a selection of his gay role models who make positive contributions to the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.

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Senator Fintan Warfield

Recently re-elected into the Seanad from the Cultural and Educational panel, Fintan was first an openly gay mayor of South County Dublin. His political career has seen him been vocal on his support of many LGBTQ+ issues including the improvement of trans healthcare, access to PrEP and his introduction of a bill banning LGBTQ+ conversion therapy.

Ncuti Gatwa

I don’t say this lightly, but it’s possible that Ncuti has potentially grown an even nicer moustache than my own. On top of that, he’s also stolen our hearts as one of the lead characters in Netflix’s Sex Education which took the streaming service by storm when it was released initially last year. He has been lauded for his strong portrayal of his character, Eric Effiong, an out, black, gay school kid who hasn’t been relegated to the tokenistic sidelines. A Rwandan-Scot, Ncuti is known for his fashion sense both on and off set. In a Britain that is growing increasingly intolerant of perceived outsiders, Ncuti does an excellent job of boosting black, gay representation in the public domain.

Gareth Thomas

Finding himself in the middle of unjust controversy last year, Gareth Thomas was the first openly gay professional rugby union player when he came out in 2009. Known only to me as ‘that gay rugby player in the Guinness ads’ before being outed as HIV+ by a tabloid newspaper journalist to his parents last September, Gareth has proven to be an inspiration in his handling of the media drama as well as his ownership of his status. Using his platform to his advantage, Gareth has taken the opportunity on numerous occasions to promote the scientific fact that having an undetectable HIV viral load means there is zero change of it being passed on (U=U).

George Takei

Known for his illustrious Star Trek career and many, many cameos, George revealed he was gay in 2005 when Arnold Schwarzenegger, then-governor of California, vetoed same-sex marriage legislation. As well as being a staunch advocate for Asian-American rights, George has been quick to call out the many hypocrisies of a certain North American president as well as other inequalities he sees arising in today’s political climate. Although having spent the majority of his adult life in the closet protecting his career, George set out on many rallies across the United States in pursuit of equal marriage until 2015.

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Gay men. There are simply too many of us. Who isn’t a gay man these days? Honourable mentions go to Rory O’Neill, Will St Leger, Joel Kim Booster, Robbie Lawlor and Wilson Cruz.

ShoutOut to our LGBTQ+ Role Models: Bisexual Folks

We are continuing our series giving ShoutOuts to our role models today with Lisa Nic An Bhreithimh, ShoutOut volunteer extraordinaire! Lisa is on our Executive Team which is the group of volunteers who run ShoutOut with the two members of staff.

Lisa is an out and proud Bi+ woman and here she talks about her Bicons!

Our Lisa! x

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Bi icons, there are lots of them - from our own powerhouse ShoutOut director, Bella to Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day. Not always the most 'out' of the world of queer people, bi folks are there but sometimes not as loud and proud in their identity. According to a study by the Pew Research Centre released last year bi folk are far less likely to be out as lesbian or gay people.

“ Only 18% of those who identify as bisexual say all or most of the important people in their lives are aware of their sexual orientation. In contrast, 75% of gay and lesbian adults say the same. “

Billie Joe Armstrong

Bi folks sometimes feel unseen, or as though they are less 'legitimate' members of the queer community. Worryingly, bi people in relationships with those of the opposite gender are sometimes considered straight, or gay / lesbian when dating those of the same gender. Another person cannot define our sexuality, only we can define who we are ourselves. Negative attitudes around bisexuality only increase the need for bi role models. Representation can be powerful in helping people to identify and feel comfortable in their identity. 

Happily, we have seen more and more celebrities come out as bi in recent years. Here in Europe, those who've identified as bi include Scottish actor and director, Alan Cumming - who's been married to both men and women and was appointed an OBE in 2009 for his services to film, theatre and the arts, and activism for LGBT rights. 

Alan Cumming

Others who've identified as part of the bi community include the legendary David Bowie, American stand-up comedian Margaret Cho, musician Jason Mraz, comedian and YouTube star Lilly Singh, True Blood actors Anna Paquin and Evan Rachel Wood, and some of the better known bi folks of recent years of course include Kristen Stewart and Lady Gaga. Long may the proud coming out of bi folks continue - for themselves and for those in the community yet to come out or realise their identity.

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ShoutOut is a safe and happy place for bi folks with many of us on the exec and volunteer teams identifying as bi. Bi representation in school workshops is hugely important - to ensure that young people get a chance to meet those of us who identify beyond the binary of gay or straight. Whatever your sexuality, however you identify, we in ShoutOut would love to have you on board as a volunteer to help us improve the lives of LGBTQIA+ people, young and old, across Ireland.

ShoutOut to our LGBTQ+ Role Models: Trans & non binary folks!

Alber Saborío

Today is Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV) and we continue our series where we pay tribute to our LGBTQ+ role models! Today, trans activist and ShoutOut facilitator, Alber, highlights their trans & non-binary heroes.

Alber is a trans nonbinary artist and sex educator from Honduras. They are a co-founder and co-director of the trans-led art collective gender.RIP. Here are their ShoutOuts:

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Alok Vaid-Menon is an Indian-American writer, performance artist and media personality. Alok inspires me every day with their colourful looks. It is so powerful to see them express themselves as loudly and unapologetically as they do!

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Ilya Parker is the reason I am able to be interested in fitness again as a trans person. It is not often we get to see trans people of color leading fitness movements. Their work on challenging toxic masculinity and colonialism in the fitness industry inspires me to continue to challenge colonialism and racism everyday. 

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Sara Philips is an incredible role model for Irish trans folks. Sara is a national Irish treasure and she inspires me so much. Her work as an organiser, facilitator and founder of the Irish Trans Archive is monumental and crucial for the Irish trans community. At the GALAs this year Sara won LGBTQ+ Role Model of the year, well deserved.

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Roxana Hernandez - a trans woman from Honduras who escaped transphobic abuse as well as rape with the migrant caravan in 2017. She was detained by ICE and died in their hands after 16 days. She inspires me to recognise my privilege in migration and in access to safety. Rest in Power.

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Who are your trans heroes? Give them a ShoutOut today!

ShoutOut to our LGBTQ+ Role Models: Lesbians and Queer Women!

Today is day one of a series where ShoutOut staff and volunteers pay tribute to their role models across the LGBTQ+ acronym! First up, some lesbian and queer heroes!

Pillow Queens

I’d like to see evidence that Pillow Queens aren’t the best band in the world. I can count on their songs for energy no matter what else is going on (for example: right now, as the world falls apart) and I often think about how much it would have meant to me to have a queer, punky, Irish band like PQs singing about Gay Longing™️ when I was growing up. As it stands, their iconic GCN cover hangs pride of place in the ShoutOut office as a kind of permanent moodboard. We are spoiled rotten to have them, and so many other deadly queer women, killing it in the Irish music scene today. 

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Ruby Tandoh

Ruby Tandoh is my favourite writer. Her work dissects queerness, culture, politics, and mental health, usually through the lens of food. She always writes with such warmth and from a place of empathy for the marginalised. I’m taking comfort in revisiting her work at the moment - her book Eat Up!, the incredible zine Do What You Want put together with her partner Leah, and her many wonderful essays. This one on clementines is my all time favourite, packing so much love and beauty into 500-odd words. Clementines, and oranges generally, are a gay fruit. No further questions.

Ailbhe Smyth

Where would any of us be without Ailbhe Smyth? Ailbhe has a multi-generational influence in my gaff - my mam was a student of hers in the 80s at UCD, so we share a feminist hero. Ailbhe’s unwavering strength and resilience over years of queer and feminist activism in Ireland holds us all to a higher standard, and her hard work during the Repeal and marriage equality referenda gave any budding activists a shining example to follow. 

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Dr Kathleen Lynn

Kathleen Lynn was a doctor, activist, and suffragette whose medical career was guided by her politics and a desire to build a fairer society. In 1913, she worked with James Connolly and Constance Markiewicz to provide free medical care and support to families of striking workers during the Dublin lock-out, and three years later served as chief medical officer during the Easter Rising. Maybe of more importance, she founded St Ultan’s Children’s Hospital in 1919 to provide care to impoverished mothers and infants in Dublin (it became the only hospital in Ireland managed by women) and worked till her death to improve medical outcomes for Dublin’s most vulnerable. She lived with her partner Madeleine ffrench-Mullen for thirty years and some historians wonder at the “remarkable closeness” these “friends” shared. Um. OK! Here’s a great lecture on her life and work by UCD’s brilliant Dr Mary McAuliffe, who has done excellent work to shine a light on the lives of queer Irish women in the Rising.  

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Leslie Feinberg

Leslie Feinberg was an incredible writer, activist, and revolutionary Communist. Hir 1993 novel Stone Butch Blues chronicles the life of a working-class butch lesbian in 1970s America. It’s not an easy read, laced through with the pain of someone viciously persecuted for their difference, but it’s deeply moving and empowering for anyone who identifies as queer. The book is available for free at Feinberg’s website, as part of hir entire life work as a communist to “change the world” in the struggle for justice and liberation from oppression.

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Some honourable mentions:

Stormé De Laverie, Joni Crone, Lena Waithe, Celine Sciamma, Sarah Schulman, Nicole Owens, Audre Lorde, Lily Tomlin, Ruth Hunt, Alison Bechdel, Syd Tha Kid, Julien Baker, Shura… Who are your lesbian and queer icons?

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Put the Queer Rep in your Netflix Binge

As we prepare to spend more time at home over the next few weeks due to COVID-19, you might be wondering what shows and movies to finally get around to watching.

We got you covered. Here’s what to watch and all of it has LGBTQ+ characters!

1) Pose

Season 1 of Pose is on Netflix now! Pose follows the lives of Black and Latinx queer folks in the ballroom scene in 1980s New York. They face transphobia, homophobia, racism and the AIDs epidemic but strive to keep their close-knit crew together through community, dancing, activism, and all-round fierceness.

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2. Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

This interesting biographical movie is about the American Psychologist who created Wonder Woman and the unconventional family structure he was apart of. Showing sapphic love and poly life, this movie is all the more touching for being a true story.

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3. Sex Education

Seasons 1 and 2 are on Netflix. Sex Education is about teenage sexuality and all the nuances therein. Staring the unsure but knowledgable Otis as he provides a service of sex advice to his classmates. This show treats the spectrum of identities with such care and kindness it’s like a balm for the soul. Also, Gillian Anderson is in it, so.

4. One Day at a Time

A Cuban family and their goofy neighbour make this delightful sitcom. There are gay and non-binary characters throughout, and honestly, it’s just lovely. One Day a Time wasn’t continued for a 4th Season by Netflix and the fan outcry was so loud that another network picked it up!

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5. Paris is Burning

A documentary about the real-life people of the Ballroom culture in NYC which explores race, class, gender and sexuality. This one is a pretty sad watch so mind yourself!

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6. I’m not OK with this & Trinkets

This is a two-for. I’m not OK with This and Trinkets are both coming of age shows about troubled teens, the former with spooky powers and the later with a shoplifting habit. Both include lesbian characters! They have similar vibes but the characters are definitely different, you’ll gobble up both series quick!

7. Glow

The gorgeous ladies of wrestling! The 1980s was the golden age of perms, spandex and storyline wrestling shows. A band of misfits create a wrestling team and much drama, laughter, tears, romance and heartbreak ensues.

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8. Tales of the City

O.K. The acting is patchy, we’re not going to lie. BUT this show has enough queer delights to make up for some forced dialogue. It centres around a big house in San Francisco and the people who have lived in it over the years. The house matriarch is the trans grandmother we all wish we had.

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Not on Netflix, but honourable mentions must go to the following international pictures: Please purchase these movies to support queer filmmakers!

Rafiki

A Kenyan Drama about a lesbian couple. Rafiki was banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board due to the “homosexual content” and the director successfully sued the government!

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A Fantastic Woman

This Chilean film follows the protagonist, Marina, a singer and actress who is trans and how she deals with the untimely death of her lover.

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Happy Together

From Hong Kong, this touching and heartbreaking film about two lovers, Ho Po Wing and Lai Yiu Fai, won the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.

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Stay safe folks! Happy Watching!

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Volunteering could help you land your dream job!

Volunteering can be one of the best ways to build experience and your CV in order to land the job of your dreams!  Not only that, but volunteering is a great way to meet new people and develop your skill set.

ShoutOut is a community of volunteers who deliver LGBTQ+ acceptance workshops in secondary schools. Our volunteers learn about communication, public speaking, leadership and education through our volunteer programme. 

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Meet Spencer

ShoutOut has been instrumental in my personal development – building interpersonal, leadership and organisational skills. Having my volunteer work with ShoutOut on my CV was always a great talking point in job interviews and allowed me to talk about something I was passionate about.

Most recently, I have become fully employed in a growing tech company as they believed someone who takes the time to volunteer outside of their day-to-day life was someone worth having in their company.

I have learnt so much from my time volunteering with ShoutOut, and am so grateful for all the wonderful opportunities it’s given me.

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Meet Clara

Did you know that volunteering with ShoutOut can be good not just for the soul, but for the wallet? In getting my two favourite jobs so far, I absolutely have to credit ShoutOut. 

These days there are many forward-thinking and diversity minded companies who will want to bring our volunteers in as great cultural fits.

Plus, by explaining at interview that you can stand up in front of a group of teenagers and give our workshop, you show off all those wonderful 21st century soft skills - confidence, adaptability, communication, leadership, teamwork, and time management all come to mind.

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Meet Ed

Working with ShoutOut has allowed me to develop a skill set necessary to thrive in a  professional environment. I have developed presentation and communication skills in facilitating workshops in schools and workplaces.

 I have lead fundraising campaigns and had the opportunity to plan, promote and execute different kinds of events. Ultimately, working with ShoutOut has given me confidence in myself that has allowed me to get to where I am today. 

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If you’d like to get involved in volunteering with ShoutOut please come to our next volunteer training session held in Outhouse in February or contact Bella at director@shoutout.ie with any questions you may have!