The editorial team behind LGBTQYMRU Magazine is committed to breaking down stereotypes surrounding the community.
A new Welsh magazine will change the way their stories are told about the LGBTQ+ people, says its editor.
Around 20 people from all over the region to form an editorial board of LGBTQYMRU Magazine in the hope that opportunities for people to involve in and diverse ideas would be brought in.
Bleddyn Harris, the magazine’s 28-year-old Chair, said: “I still think there’s the air of mystery around who we are, and the sort of stereotypes. There are so many beautiful faces, stories and experiences that we just don’t know.”
Welsh-based LGBTQ+ people will be featured in stories to show what they really are. But it not just includes the local, people from all over the world who work or study here will also be covered.
“Because we have an international community here and have people from different countries to study and work,” said Bleddyn. “We’re not just in one place. We’re everywhere at all times.”
Information about homosexuals has often been presented through a heterosexual lens in the past, but Bleddyn believes that it gives them a rare opportunity to tell stories truthfully by themselves that has never happened before and to learn more about themselves.
“I think the biggest opportunity we’ve had,” said he. “COVID-19 has been devastated across the world. This opportunity gave us a little bit of light in the type of darkness.”
The editorial team works online and meets at least once a week to make sure everything is on track.
Bleddyn said: “Our mantra has been and always got to be ‘for the Qommunities, by the Qommunities’, so we’re doing this with everyone in mind.”
The new magazine, a space dedicated to connecting, supporting and celebrating the LGBTQommunites of Welsh, will release the first edition at the end of February.
Bleddyn received a lot of feedback when people noticed that this kind of magazine is going to be released firstly in Welsh.
He said the best one he has heard is from people who say ‘they can’t wait.’