“Why is this still a thing?”

Jody Tandy is the Better Practice Lead at The Willows in Taunton. In this moving blog, she talks about the prejudice she has encountered as a lesbian:

Why is this still a thing! I ‘came out’ to a select few when I was 17, but I didn’t tell any of my close friends and family until I was 20. I was most worried about telling my best friend as I didn’t want our relationship to change, but telling her just made our friendship stronger. Knowing I had her full support made it easier to tell my parents.

Almost every day, I have to correct people who presume I have a husband. Sometimes their attitudes completely change towards me, and this happens inside and outside of work.

I have worked for Somerset County Council and Discovery for six years, and even though it is very rare, I still come across prejudice and it feels like a set-back. I used to worry about people not liking me because of my sexuality, and I used to change the way I acted, but now I am proud of who I am, and I don’t fear what people think.

Hopefully one day in the future, people will be able to walk down the street with whoever they love and will be able to hold hands without stares, whispers and strange looks. No one will have to `come out’, they will just be accepted for who they are, no matter their sexuality and how they identify.

Photo by Marta Branco from Pexels