 I first came out when I was about 17 to my friends and myself and I didn't come out to my mum until a couple years later and my mum took it really well you know she wasn't surprised she just sort of said that makes a lot of sense and you know I'm really lucky that I had a supportive mum like really accepting who you are such a long journey and I still think I'm on that journey you know it's going to take me a long long time to really come to a place where I fully feel like I've accepted who I am. It feels like you know you kind of have to come out again and again and again because you have to come out to your friends you come out to like people you work with it teaches you something different and I'm still trying to learn those lessons I think with years and years I kind of came out to the world so pride's important to me because for so long I felt like I had to hide myself my sexuality and hide who I feel I really am you know it's taken me a long time to get to a place now where I do feel comfortable with my sexuality and so I think pride's still super important because it reminds us that we have to be loud and we have to be proud of who we are and that can sometimes feel really scary and difficult but it's all about celebrating where we've come from and how far we've come and celebrating each other. I always thought I was gay and because I really like I fancied Aladdin when I watched Aladdin and other Disney princes and I mean I love Jasmine but mainly because she had such nice hair when I was growing up I I mean I can't remember any out pop stars really I mean I knew George Michael was gay and and I was aware that he'd had this quite difficult coming out and he was in the closet to begin with and I don't know it felt like there was really sort of no one out there who I felt kind of represented me we really can't sort of like underestimate the importance of representation and we're getting much better now you know we've got so much so many more artists who are like taking center stage and having their experiences heard but we need to kind of I think keep encouraging more and more people to get their voices heard and you know represent our community which is so diverse having artists who are speaking about their experience and kind of stepping out there and not being afraid to be who they are it's just really encouraging for whoever you are so I think if I had sort of had that as a teenager if I had seen that reflected in kind of popular culture I think I would have been less scared to be to be myself I think our greatest support is each other and to you know I found great comfort and through my queer friends who you know can talk to me about their experience we can share our stories and and you know we can support each other and it's a bit like we are a family I think and we have to lift each other up find another queer person wherever you can and and and and share something because because you almost always find you're not alone