A Word With Myles-Jay Linton

Tell us a little about yourself

Hi, I’m Myles-Jay Linton, one of the seven Core Organisers of Kiki Bristol. I’m a psychologist and artist/illustrator and (predictably) I own too many plants. I’ve been living in the South West for seven years.

Tell us about Kiki Bristol

Kiki is an award-winning, volunteer-led collective who create joyful, safe social spaces and cultural events led by and for the Queer Trans Intersex Black People & People of Colour (QTIBIPOC) community in Bristol.

Why are dedicated events and spaces for QTIBIPOC needed

Historically, many marginalised groups have not felt safe or welcomed in mainstream spaces. Unfortunately mainstream queer spaces have also historically not always provided safety or inclusion for Queer, Trans, Intersex, Black People & People of Colour. Groups like ours create spaces that centre QTIBIPOC, along with their friends, family and our supporters. As a collective we’re still learning, and we’re on our own journey. We owe a great deal to organisations like UK Black Pride who have been providing answers to questions like this for over 15 years.

How can the wider LGBT+ be more supportive towards QTIBIPOC?

Doing what they can to avoid instances where the greatest burden falls most heavily on people most impacted by racism Supporting grassroots community-led initiatives like Rainbow Noir (Manchester), Glitter Cymru (South Wales), QTAC Notts and QTIPOC Notts (Nottingham), Origins Eile (Dublin), Kiki (Bristol), QTI Coalition of Colour (Cambridge), Hidayah, Radical Rhizomes (Brighton), and many many more would be a great start xox

What should people be doing to ensure the activism from the BLM movement continues?

In my view, one of the many important steps required to sustain the energy generated in the last 12 months is recognising the ways in which racism and its causes are connected to other injustices. There’s a lot of power in identifying shared anti-racist strategic goals (not least of all because it safeguards against the kind of ‘saviourism’ that in reality sustains power imbalances). I’m certainly not the first to say it, but people need to be as supportive of black ‘life’ as they are outraged in black ‘pain’. All black Lives Matter.

What does pride mean to you

That feels like a really big question! I usually think about pride as quite a public activity focussed around community building, but recently I’ve been challenging myself to think about the more private sides of pride. I think there are lots of ways people can explore this, but one way is taking some time to really celebrate your own personal history, and the importance of the journey you’ve been on.

What’s your favourite Pride memory?

Oh Bristol Pride 2018 for sure. I had my oldest and newest friends all together in one place, celebrating pride, publicly - something a few years prior I hadn’t imagined would be possible.