Student Life | Issue 40

LGBT
CO-EDITOR RAINE HATCH
LGBTQs
BY RAINE HATCH
Hello! Let’s play a game of ‘who am
I’ (not the existential kind. Maybe
later, though). As your new LGBT+
co-editor, Raine, I’m using our
first LGBTQ’s session together to
introduce to you what I’m all about,
so that hopefully, you may feel
comfortable introducing yourself
and your story to me in return. Let’s
begin!
HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY EXACTLY?
As of today, I am a girl, attracted
to girls. I am also attracted to the
prospect of a student debt-free life,
but it’s tricky to get either these days,
huh.
To be upfront, labels sit weirdly with
me. ‘Lesbian’ is what I tell people, how
I relate to those sweet LGBT+ memes,
what I put under ‘current employment
status’ in my CV and so on – but in
the end, I am Raine. Some days, I just
want to cuddle and marathon 2000’s
British sitcoms with anybody nice, I
don’t mind! Others, I get this superintrusive
urge to start a cat empire
with any cute girl who smiles my
way. I also like to wear a chest binder
because it gives me confidence. But
does that mean I must embark on
some spiralling quest to find the label
for me? Long story short: CBA.
ARE YOU OUT OF THE CLOSET?
My definition may vary to yours.
Being ‘out’ to me is a state of mind;
fully accepting the person you are on
the inside, you’ll feel free to radiate
that energy on the outside for all the
world to see. In that sense, I’m out
to everybody. I am a power-walking,
high-heeled queer on a mission to
(consensually) steal your lady. Boom.
Well, I’m out to everybody, except for
my parents. They are not to know for
as long as I live under their roof, and I
have made peace with this fact.
HOW DO YOU COPE WITH
HAVING TO HIDE YOUR QUEER
IDENTITY FROM YOUR FAMILY?
I accept that it’s going to suck. It’s
65 • 65 MARCH • LGBT 2019 • STUDENT • STUDENT LIFE LIFE