The Many Voices of Pride: Caolan’s story

The LGBT+ community is made of many different identities, all of which are as valid and important as the others, and every single one deserves to fly their flag with pride.

For Pride 2019, PinkNews has teamed with Uber to tell stories that show how important visibility is to a diverse rainbow of sexual and gender identities.

This is Caolan’s story…

What was it like growing up in Ireland?

I grew up in Northern Ireland which is quite conservative and I have a Catholic background, so being gay wasn’t exactly ok. I didn’t come out until later in life when I went to university.

I would say the first time i felt like I belonged fully was when I moved to Barcelona when I was 21. I found my tribe; people who have the same interests as me and the same sexuality.

How did you come to understand what polysexuality was?

I’ve only started to identify as polysexual in the past year. I’d never heard of the term until I started my new job; I work for a queer inclusive polysexual dating app.

I think if I had been exposed to polysexuality more than a year ago, I probably would have come out as polysexual a lot earlier. I just didn’t know the term existed but knowing what the term meant really helped me understand who I was attracted to.

What is your best memory of Pride?

I would say the best Pride memory I have was last year when I walked with my company in the parade in London Pride and I was with my friends.

One of the most special moments for me was seeing families in the crowd, seeing young kids and families cheering in the sun, it was really beautiful and I almost cried seeing families cheering all the gay people because I’ve never seen that in my life.

What does identifying with a flag mean to you?

It’s really important for every community to have their own flag, so everyone feels included.

With the original Pride flag it didn’t always include every gender or sexuality, so a lot of people didn’t feel fully represented or included. So, I think it’s important to have multiple flags to represent every community within the overall umbrella.

Read all the personal stories from the Many Voices of Pride campaign here.