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LGBT+ badminton club ‘helped me feel comfortable telling people I’m gay’

LGBT+ badminton clubs across the UK are helping members of the community feel “confident and comfortable” with who they are.

Long Yang Badminton Club London (LYC) has been around since the mid-1980s and serves to bring together queer Asians and Westerners with an interest in sports.

For James Yong, who has been playing at the club for about a year and a half, if it wasn’t for LYC, he wouldn’t have been able to “grow in a way where I feel confident and feel comfortable with who I am.”

“I came out very late in life – when I was 29 – and it was hard! A 34-year-old man who is in the village Camden TownLondon, the PA news agency reported.

“I came out to my parents, my mom still accepts that I’m gay, and fast forward, I’m making real connections here.

“I’m more comfortable telling people that I’m gay, I’m queer, and that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for LYC and other clubs like that, where you talk to people who have been through similar experiences and that helped me grow in a way that I felt confident and comfortable with who I am.”

Malcolm Solomon, 65, has been attending classes at LYC for about two-and-a-half years, but has been playing badminton for seven years.

“They made me feel welcome and I didn’t feel very out of place, even though I think I was probably the oldest person here,” the Londoner, who identifies as non-binary, told PA.

“Now I’m part of the furniture—it’s just my house.”

He said having LGBT space means “you don’t even have to think about what you have to say or what someone might say to you.”

“It’s just a feeling of freedom,” he added.

Members play at Queensbridge Leisure Center in Dalston on Wednesdays and at Kensington Leisure Center on Sundays.

The club also has its own league team which competes in three competitions each year and also hosts community events throughout the year.

Mr Solomon added: “It’s also nice that our club is so inclusive – we have people who describe themselves as straight and there’s this freedom to be relaxed around whoever comes here.”

He said that he had seen it before Honor in a more political way than when he was younger, now he sees it as a festival.

“I think sometimes it’s rare for people to just be themselves, and honor shows that people can be just that,” he said.

In Leeds, Rob Wilson, 47, helped set up The Bad Mittens, an LGBT+ badminton club, around seven years ago because he felt “society is kind of pushing LGBT+ people towards the bar scene, going ‘that’s your space, that’s where you find your sense of belonging ‘. This is simply not true.

“There’s so much more here that people can join in and have a safe space to meet other people in a non-alcoholic community.”

The group plays at three different sites – Armley, Morley and Kirkstall – and has grown significantly since starting with just 20 to 30 members.

“We have about 50 people every week for four sessions, and of those we probably have about 80 people who are regulars,” he said.

“It’s really great when you see them playing together, or tagging people on Facebook, making friends with others in the group, going out to eat, and it’s humbling to think that you created that space.

“LGBT+-led environments create a safety net for people to feel that they are not being judged and that they are not trapped in an environment where they constantly have to come out.”

He added that “now more than ever” there is a need for people to be allies to those in the community.

“There are many opportunities to speak out and support LGBT+ people,” he said.

“So take advantage of these opportunities, encourage your network to support it – don’t shy away from it.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/lgbt-pride-london-camden-town-dalston-b2359324.html

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