Why are we talking about queer perspectives? Why is representation important and yet not easy?
We all have our own relationship to life. We are individuals. No one has had exactly the same experiences as another. All experiences of our (so far) life determine who we are. where did i grow up What was my childhood like? Am I a BIPoC? am i queer We have very different experiences due to our environment and the characteristics ascribed to ourselves and others. As a result, every person has a unique experience and a unique perspective.
That's why we don't talk about it at PAQT the one queer perspective, but from many different queer perspectives. We all have an equally individual queer perspective through our individual life paths. At PAQT we are aware that we cannot therefore represent all queer people, but can only act from our perspectives.
"As long as I don't find myself in society, the question remains open: do I even belong?"
But why is representation important? Representation creates visibility - it creates the opportunity to make the "foreign" into the "known". For example, when men* come out publicly in football and profess their queerness, queer people who have not yet come out, especially children, see that being queer is okay. Representation means being able to feel right, accepted and belonging.
We observe that we see ourselves represented by different people. With whom do we share a particularly large number of characteristics? Who has experienced a reality similar to mine? Which voice do I trust to speak for me? No one can completely cover our own perspective. Only we can. At the same time, we humans sometimes have similar experiences, for similar reasons. Here we recognize moments that connect people.
At PAQT, unfortunately, social exclusion combines an encounter with the feeling of being different and not belonging because of one's own queerness. Maybe also the thought of having to pretend, not being able to be yourself and finding a way to deal with these thoughts and feelings. Out of this connection, we want to become active. We want to enable representation - through visibility, through the possibility for other people to find themselves in the experiences and stories of others and maybe through you too!
If you would like to enrich our team with your perspective and would like to get involved as an activist, please take a look around our community! We know that we cannot be an all-encompassing safer space. At the same time, we hope to create a space where everyone can feel comfortable by dealing with discrimination and raising awareness among our members.