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LGBTMEET - Meme Meet 🏳️‍🌈

LGBTMEET wants to get the community connected so what better way than with you sending you favourite Meme/GIF!

We will retweet them all and then you can get following each other!

We will start it off! Grace Jones is my idol so I’m going to kick it off with her!

Send us your memes/GIFs and we will follow and retweet! Let’s goooo 🙌🏻

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LGBTMEET - Travel Bug 🏳️‍🌈

It’s fair to say I have the travel bug and finally I am going to be off on my travels in a few months time - I want to know about you and your travels here at LGBTMEET 🏳️‍🌈

After splitting with my ex, my passion for travel has never been higher. I always did want to go travelling but invisgned always going with my partner. Even thought we aren’t together it hasn’t put me off, the next few months will see me prepare for the start of my travels. As our main aim here at LGBTMEET is to connect our audience with us and others I want to hear from you! Have you been travelling? Did you go on your own or within a group? How did your travels go?

I never really did look properly into the resources out there that network fellow like minded people who are keen to travel until lately. The amount of resources out there is astonishing and I recommenced if you are considering travel to take time to look at all the different resources on Facebook, Google & different sites which connect fellow travellers. Before you go you can connect with people who may already be out travelling at the same destination as you or are going around the same time.

On Facebook it’s very easy to find travelling groups and specific groups such as LGBT community groups for travelling or Solo Female Traveller groups. Whichever group or whatever countries you are travelling too you should be able to get in contact with people who are doing the same thing as you. I think this is absolutely fantastic! The resources readily available to us in the modern day is wonderful and if we can fully emmerse ourselves and use them to our advantages then travelling should be a success.

Travelling is a once in a lifetime opportunity and can be one that you could always want to do but never fulfil. The last few months after a painful split from my partner I have really soul searched and dug deep to take on hard times but also starting to enjoy life again. Now my life motivation is that we only get one life, it’s not a rehearsal. And yes I wish I realised this a little earlier in my life however I believe everything happens for a reason and if we didn’t go through the things we did then we wouldn’t be the people we are today.

If you have experiences of travelling alone or within a group get in touch! We would love to hear from you and publish your stories and experiences. We really want to push the social and networking experiences within the LGBT community. With your help and enthusiasm we hope to create an environment which is interesting and in touch with like minded people.

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LGBTMEET - RuPaul All Stars 4 RuView 🏳️‍🌈

So this weekend see the grand finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars 4 ✨

LGBTMEET takes a look at the remaining 4 contestants❣️

Okay so here’s how this is going to work! We are going to take a look at the top 4, I’m going to include my favourite looks from the series and favourite information on the final fab 4 - let’s goooo and I’ll try not to fuck it up 🤪

Monique Heart

Monique Heart is fabulous there is no doubt about it! For me she has been hilarious and America gets me every time! She is full of character and also fabulous looks. She can also deliver on the acting front, she has been instrumental in delivering charm to this series.

Best Runway

I am a massive fan of this runway Monique slayed in the semi final - she went Nina Bonina Brown on us and I am a massive Nina Bonia Brown fan so this look absolutely worked for me!

From 3 wins, 1 high, 3 safe and two bottom - Monique Heart has every chance of taking the crown. Monique is STUNNING and will rightfully earn a place in All Star Herstory.

Monet X Change

Monet X Change is without doubt one of the most endearing drag queens of all time. She has a sweet demeanor and an even sweeter smile! For me Monet has been one of true most progressive queens this series, not in a Big Bang way but slowly and surely.

Best Runway

Monet’s best runway has to be when she won her first challenge of the season. She looked exceptional in red on the runway. Sultry lady in red Monet absolutely slayed the runway in episode two winning with Valentina.

From 3 wins, 1 high, 2 safe, 1 low and 2 bottom - Monet has steadily progressed through All Stars 4 and this “Gag, bitch” deserves her place in the top 4 and I have no doubt she will be pushing that All Star crown all the way!

Trinity the Tuck

There is absolutely no doubt about it, Trinity has slayed in All Stars 4. From high fashion to humility - Trinity knows how to bring it. If she’s not calling “Shade!” You can bet that she is “Always going to get her man” Trinity delivered one of my favourite moments of the season portraying Caitlyn Jenner in the Snatch Game of Love (Still to this day would love to have seen how Gia Gunn would have got on!)

Best Look

This is my favourite look of the series from Trinity, it’s that hair! Actually no it’s not just the hair it’s everything about this outfit. The body was certainly back and Trinity knows exactly how to work it!

From 4 wins, 1 high, 2 safe, 1 low and 1 bottom - it seems that Trinity the Tuck’s report card speaks wonders for her All Stars performance. She will definitely be a favourite heading into the final!

Naomi Smalls

Naomi Smalls is a dark horse in the final, she was initially a slow burner but in recent weeks she has really come to life. Can she continue to the crown? Legs for absolute days this queen is a fierce competitor and clearly showed she wasn’t afraid to make a ruthless decision in the competition.

Best Look

I’m going to put it out there and say this Prince look Naomi Smalls was giving us is probably one of my favourite looks of the whole series! It’s fierce, it’s fun and it’s absolutely stunning.

From 1 win, 3 high, 2 safe and 3 bottom - Naomi’s report card isn’t as impressive as the rest of the finalists however like she said you “Can’t spell legendary without.. leg!” And she really does have legs for days. Famously eliminating Manila Luzon, can this work in her favour to take the crown?

Honourable Mentions

Manila Luzon

We can’t be in the final really without mentioning Manila. For me she was the clear winner, she had it all and really delivered week upon week apart from the partner challenge where maybe she just got a little sidetracked. Manila is a true Drag Queen superstar

Valentina

Valentina for me was an absolute character this season - in her own little bubble and fantasy. I have a soft spot for her and I think she delivered some great moments. Notoriously not great on the lip sync challenges, her lip sync for Into You was worth waiting for!

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LGBTMEET - Mental Health 🏳️‍🌈

LGBTMEET wants to look in-depth about the mental health statistics for the LGBT community.

What is Mental Health?

Mental health is a persons condition with regard to their psychological, social and emotional well-being.

It affects how we think, how we act and how we feel. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood right through to adolescence. Over the course of your life, different things may happen which may affect your way of thinking, your mood and how you behave. Many factors can contribute to mental health problems:

- Biological factors such as genes or brain chemistry.

- Life experiences such as trauma or abuse

- Family history of mental health problems

Why are LGBT people more susceptible to Mental Health problems?

Looking at the above on what mental health stands for the one that stands out amongst them all that may be why LGBT people are more susceptible to mental health problems is the life experience such as trauma or abuse. If you are to speak to a handful in the LGBT community I would imagine that every single one of them has suffered from abuse of some kind. And we will look into this further, the affects of different types of abuse that LGBT people suffer and how it can affect the mental health and well being.

Metal health statistics show that LGBT people are more likely to suffer mental health problems than heterosexual people due to a range of factors including discrimination and inequalities. Back in 1968 homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder itself, it wasn’t until 1987 that it was completely dropped as a mental health order.

A lot of research has gone into why discrimination takes place and although there is growing acceptance of the LGBT community there is still a long way to go across the globe to tackle discrimination and inequalities. We can look back and see how far the acceptance of the LGBT community has come however there still needs to be some effective policies and practices put in place in order to continue the growth and eradicate the mental health issues that the LGBT community are having to deal with.

Suffering from homophobic abuse as a youngster can really affect adolescence life, that’s why I am keen to stress the importance of LGBT education within schools. We need to ensure the current and next generation are well educated in a comfortable environment where they can identify with themselves and also others to create a discrimination free environment.

This doesn’t even necessarily relate to just the LGBT community but communities as a whole. Children are often subject to discrimination for different things such as being interested in their education therefore labelled a geek or being a girl who is confident gets labelled as a bitch. These labels are then set upon for constant discrimination, in schools kids don’t lose their labels. This can lead to misidentification of themselves and in truth hamper not just their education but their social life and well being. I think education is key to generations moving forwards and it is something we need to start getting right.

I wish we had inclusive and informative education regarding the LGBT community and what it stands for when I was at school. Instead it was something that was shyed away from and if that’s the current case in schools then that is the attitude it’s pupils will take forward. If we want to tackle mental health in childhood and adulthood then we need to start from the roots in order for the future to bloom.

Please share with me any of your experiences with regards to mental health.

The important factor of my blog is to bring people together from the LGBT community, I want to be able to create an environment where we are comfortable and enjoy life for how it is and how we are.

Find Your Feet 🏳️‍🌈

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LGBTMEET - LGBT History Month 🏳️‍🌈

LGBT History month is every February and this year the theme is Peace, Activisim and Reconciliation.

The overall aim for the LGBT History Month is to promote equality and diversity for the benefit of the public. This is done by increasing the visibility of LGBT people, their history, lives and their experiences within institutions and the wider communities.

https://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk

This year LGBT History Month is working in conjunction with Schools OUT UK, who’s aim is to make schools safe and inclusive for everyone. Beginning life in 1974 as The Gay Teachers Association. Their aim is to make schools and educational institutions safe spaces for our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) communities as teachers, lecturers and trainers; as pupils and students; as parents; as teaching and learning support staff; as site-officers, catering and cleaning staff; and as headteachers, managers and governors. There is no other organisation that supports such a wide community in attaining such a wide, yet simple overarching goal.

http://www.schools-out.org.uk

Both such fantastic websites to check out regarding the history of the LGBT Community and what we can do to help contribute towards continuing the great work that has come before us. I am a great fan of the Schools OUT UK mission to help make schools a safe environment for LGBT people and ensure they are allowed to fufil their potential. I think this is crucial in the development of visibility for LGBT in educational institutions. Having experienced second hand not fufilling my own potential due to a lack of visibility and support for LGBT people.

You can sign up to help contribute to the great work that they are already undertaking and make a difference within the community

http://www.schools-out.org.uk/?page_id=379

LGBTMeet - Find Your Feet 🏳️‍🌈

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LGBTMEET - Top LGBT Icons 🏳️‍🌈

I have created the below blog about the 5 inspirational LGBT icons that have inspired me and also a lot of the LGBT community. Let me know your thoughts and also your top 5 LGBT icons who have inspired you 🏳️‍🌈

Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres is not just an icon for the LGBT community, she is an icon and an inspiration to people with her kindness raising awareness around sensitive issues and looking to help the most vulnerable. Over 20 years ago Ellen came out on the most public of stages, at a time in which marriage was not legal under law. Ellen showed such courage and to this day is now a leading pioneer for the LGBT community. She has become an inspirational figure helping to shape America’s attitude towards the LGBT community with her popular The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

RuPaul

The worlds most famous drag queen - RuPaul! With an incredible career to date currently spanning 30 years, RuPaul has taken the drag queen scene to a whole different level. He became a household name due to his talk and variety show ‘The RuPaul Show’. And he has put even more drag queen names on the map mentoring on the popular reality show ‘RuPauls Drag Race’. RuPaul is a LGBT icon and he continues to remind us that our love and compassion towards one another starts with ourselves.

Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury the absolute showman! He had abundance of personality with a fantastic imagination. Back in 1974 we were in he dark ages with regards to the treatment of LGBT community. Freddie was brave when he was asked a question about his sexuality: I’m as gay as a daffodil, my dear!”

It was only 7 years after the legislation of homosexuality, Freddie helped to open up conversations about the LGBT community. No doubt one of the greatest showman’s to ever have lived, Freddie brought his style and swagger to the stage which helped the public become more accepting of those of a different sexuality.

Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova is arguably one of the best female tennis players of all time, having won 18 Grand Slam singles titles. Martina had won 11 titles before coming out 1981, she believes that the burden she carried hindered her from being the best athlete she could be. Navratilova was one of the first top profile athletes to come out as gay which was a significant step amongst sport stars. She is a vocal campaigner for LGBT rights worldwide. Martina is actively involved in marches, activism and political campaigning for the LGBT community.

Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk is a pioneer when it comes to LGBT rights activists. He was the first and most famous openly gay elected official in a major US city - California. Milk became the public face of the LGBT movement, and his reputation has continued to grow since his assassination in 1978. Milk was responsible for passing tough gay-rights law in San Francisco before he was killed. Still to this day he is remembered as a pioneer for the LGBT community and often with his famous quote - “Hope will never be silent.”

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LGBTMEET- My coming out story 🏳️‍🌈

Not all coming out stories are pleasant, easy or straight forward. Mine was defitnely the latter which I will share with you

As a kid I grew up in a pretty normal household (although we are talking families here and we would be lying if we said any family was conventional) It was me, my dad, my mum and my sister in a nice house and a nice area. As a kid I used to always be out playing, usually football with the local boys from the area. If we weren’t playing football we were creating rope swings down the local park, playing 99 in or making up our own game of dodgeball (which didn’t go down too well with one of the neighbours when the balls ended up smashing against the side of the house)

I thoughrougly enjoyed my early childhood, I really had no worries apart from eating my dinner quickly when I returned home from school so I could run out an kick a ball around with me friends. It was until I reached secondary school where things started to get tricky for me. You see my best friend from secondary school was a boy, we had been friends since we were young kids and our parents were very good friends too. So outside of school we spent a lot of time with each other. I had girls that were friends of mine but I didn’t hang out with them too much at school as I was too busy playing football.

When I got to secondary school I did end up making friends with girls and started hanging out with them more and not so much my best friend from primary school. I’m pretty sure this was a subconscious move, instead of joining in with the boys and playing football at secondary school I opted to hang out with my new girl friends. At this age, a girl who played football was judged. Lesbian, Dyke, Man. At this age and for most of my school life I was worried about being associated with these names, I thought it was wrong. I thought that no matter what I cannot be this person. I don’t want to suffer these name calls or feel like I’m an outcast.

So my conscious decision to not play football with the boys at school seemed to backfire. Although I made some great girl friends who to this day I am still very good friends with, I pretty much lost my childhood friend. He was one of the main culprits in calling me names and making gestures at the table in class to his other friend that I could visibly see. This made me feel so very low. There were times I thought I can’t do this because I don’t want to be labelled these names and people to talk about me.

I realised I had a thing for girls in my early teens, there were teachers that caught my eye and I used to think they were attractive. I also played in a girls football team outside of school which was my release, it was home where no one judged and I could still fufil my love for the game. I remember my first crush in my football team, she was funny and pretty. We used to get on so well and enjoy each other’s company but nothing came of it other than just friends at 14.

I put up with the name calls and gestures in the classroom for the rest of my school life, I never spoke to my mum about it until I actually came out which I will get onto later in the post. Because I felt ashamed of being different the way I coped with it to try and deter people away from calling me any forms of names was to go as far away from my true self as possible. So I forced myself to get involved with boys and made sure my friends and others knew about it. Looking back, this makes me feel sad. The fact that when I was young I couldn’t be who I had already identified was me. Instead I had to love a lie in order to keep my head above water at school.

I left school with decent grades but again I could have done a lot better if I was pre occupied with deterring people from calling me names or judging me. I didnt know what I wanted to do after school, I tried college for a week but again I was stuck in worrying too much about what people thought about me instead of being who I was and going for what I wanted. So I started a little job, earned some money then decided to go to America for college to play soccer. Again, the experience was fantastic and I enjoyed it thoroughly but at 18 I should have been more comfortable with who I really was.

I ended up again trying to deter people from who I really was by getting involved with boys. I knew this wasn’t me and I knew this wasn’t what I wanted but I was scared to really live as me. I stayed there for 5 months and then came home. I managed to get a job with my sister at her workplace. Same again, tried to deter from my real self and convince people that I was straight. Looking back on this really does make me sad, the fact that I wasn’t comfortable to come out is something I don’t want people to experience.

When I reached 22, something triggered inside me and I signed up to a dating site. I began speaking to girls and found my first partner online. Let me tell you, the next part was not the most conventional of coming out stories to a mum. Me and this girl had be talking for quite a while and we thought it was time to meet up. She was from the other end of the country and one day she came out with big story about how her family are terrible and from a different culture and don’t accept her (unfortunately we aren’t together anymore) me being me quite vulnerable in my situation agreed that I would go all the way to the other end of the country and meet her and pick her up.

But first, I needed to come out to my mum. I remember being on the stairs and crying, my mum wasn���t sure what was going on and I just said I needed to speak to her. She was questioning me on things that she thought that would be making me upset and then she finally asked ‘Are you gay?’ Boom there it was. She gave me a hug and we spoke about it. She was absolutely fine and still to this day I never spoke to my dad about it, my mum must have enlightened him about it and he has never had one bad word to say. He is the most chilled dad and we enjoy going to watch football together.

So about my trip - well I finished work I set off and four hours later I met the girl I was talking to. We hit it off, I felt great and I finally felt free. We stayed in a hotel for a few nights and then we had to make a decision. After two days of meeting was she going to come with me or was she going to stay with her family who again she can’t be herself around because they do not accept her. Having been in a similar position I offered for her to come and stay with my at my parents house! My mum has always been open and caring so I text her to ask and of course she obliged!

And from there we ended up being in a relationship for 3 years! My parents took her into the family and we lived with them. We ended up on trips to Florida, Madrid and Madeira. We travelled the country for football games and visited cinemas and restaurants like no tomorrow. It now seems like a bit of a fairytale, rescuing her from her family and living happily ever after (nearly 😂)

I believe in life everything happens for a reason and here I am today a single Lesbian who has finally found herself and become comfortable in her own skin. I don’t regret how any of my relationship started or ended. I think it was meant to be and has taught me vital lessons in life. What I do regret is the way I had to suffer in silence, this not only affected my school life where ultimately kids should be kids and not have to have those sorts of worries but it has affected my later life and my confidence.

I think if I can help anyone suffering in silence then I will be a happy human, I want people to be comfortable with themselves and ultimately the people that are worth caring about are the ones who will only care for your happiness and will not judge you. All of my friends and co workers were absolutely fine about me being a gay woman. When I finally came out to my parents, friends, family - I didn’t have any problems. The one person I was most afraid of was my Nana and she was completely fine with me! We even used to go round hers for dinner and watch TV with her.

I think we need more help for youngsters who are suffering and will continue to suffer as long as ignorance is around. Love is love and people should be allowed to be the person that they truly are.

I hope anyone who is suffering at the moment or feels like they are oppressing themselves for the sake of others can really reach out to me on here. Let me know your coming out stories or how you are feeling at this present moment and I will do my utmost best to help you out.

Find Your Feet 🏳️‍🌈

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LGBTMEET- An introductory post 🏳️‍🌈

LGBTMEET- An introductory post 🏳️‍🌈

The LGBT community is close to our hearts here at LGBTMEET and we want to bring as much to the community as possible

Ever felt yourself alone and not sure where to turn? Have you struggled with your thoughts and feelings preventing you from being yourself?

Speaking for experience here at LGBTMEET we have suffered these exact feelings. The reason for starting this blog is to share experiences, not just ours but hopefully for you to share yours too! LGBTMEET really wants to achieve exactly what it says in the name - For people within the LGBT community to be able to reach out to one another and help grow together.

Our mission is simple - to bring content to you that will inform, engage and uplift. That will encourage you to shine like you should and bring as many people within the community together and enable us to be stronger together.

We have suffered struggles and speak from first hand experience how struggles have effected life and lifestyle choices. If we can help anybody within the community then we will see that as a success.

We aim to bring all sorts of content to your eyes and we would really appreciate any feedback or any engagement from yourselves. In a world of social media, proper social interaction seems to be further lost. This is something we want to help change, we want to bring people physically together to enjoy the best things in life.

Any contributors are welcome, any events you may have planned give us a shout

"If you can't love yourself, how in the hell are you going to love someone else" - RuPaul

Welcome to LGBTMEET 🏳️‍🌈