CW: This interview discusses religion & religious homophobia.
Introduce yourself.
My name is Lady Eclipse and my pronouns are she/they.
How long have you been a student at Sky Sirens? What do you do here?
I’ve been a student at Sky Sirens for about a year and a half. I started with Burlesque, and have since branched out to Lyra, Pole and Down & Dirty classes.
What do you identify as within the LGBTQIA+ community?
I identify as Queer.
This realisation was honestly a bit of a tough one. I grew up in a religious community and always had the concept of LGBTQIA+ as something people needed to be saved from.
In my adult life, in a safe long-term relationship, I was able to start being honest with myself and my partner about my sexuality.
Embracing my sexually and sensuality is one of the reasons I started at Sky Sirens. It took me a little while, but now I feel I can express it however, and whenever works for me in a comfortable and safe environment filled with a supportive community.
Being in a hetero presenting long term relationship often makes me feel like I don't belong in the rainbow community because I'm not "gay enough". I have this feeling a lot in different elements of my life, particularly with being a white presenting person but from a biracial family.