Raising A Voice for LGBTI+ Youth Sailing
We invited the LGBTI+ community to join the Irish Sailing Live Out Loud campaign by sharing their story with us to share with the wider community. The aim is to show our LGBTI+ youth are visible and valued in our culture, community and sport.
We are pleased to share our first story with you.
Tessa Kingston gives an insight into her adventures at sea with partner and coming out in her home town
"I am a sailing instructor of 10 years and met my girlfriend of 3 years while working at an outdoor education centre where we both taught sailing. I was slow to come out in my home town prior to this, but we had such an amazing summer of adventures shared with wonderful people that it never seemed an issue again. Our relationship was welcomed with open arms (and some brilliant piss taking) amongst fellow staff, our families and the general outdoor/sailing community.
We've had great times being out on the water whether we were instructing or just having a laugh. There was always a wonderful gang of beautiful souls to share sea adventures with. Throughout our relationship we embraced many opportunities to sail far and wide. After spending summers working in Ireland's outdoors, we worked to find sailing opportunities abroad to escape the winters. We found ourselves in the Caribbean, down the coast of Portugal, coast of Greece and of course Irish seas too!
We've made friends for life through our sailing adventures and the love for the sea, each other and everyone we met from the community lives on!"
Tessa Kingston
Irish Sailing Dinghy Trainer, Powerboat and Cruising Instructor
We invite you to join the Irish Sailing Live Out Loud campaign celebrating the LGBTI+ youth and showing how they are visible, valued and included in culture, society and sport. Join us by sharing your story or simply share a picture of happy boating 😘
Feel free to make your submission directly here https://foroige.formstack.com/forms/live_out_loud
Or you can contact our Diversity Officer Ciarán Murphy at ciaran.murphy@sailing.ie
🌈 Raise Your Voice 🌈