ATTITUDE IS 21

To mark Attitude's 21st birthday we decided to speak to people who were born the year the magazine was first published, back in good old 1994. We got them together for the afternoon and asked them about their lives, loves, passions and pastimes and what being LGBT means to them in 2015.

Co-ordinated by Ben Kelly Photographed by Clive Leonard Shot in and around Bloomsbury, London

DANIEL WINFIELD

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

I FELT LIKE AN EQUAL CITIZEN AFTER GAY MARRIAGE WAS LEGALISED. I DON’T REALLY HAVE A GAY ROLE MODEL. THE ROLE MODELS I DO HAVE ARE MY BROTHER AND TWO OF MY UNCLES AS THEY SHOWED ME WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MAN.

MY FAMILY WERE ALL VERY SUPPORTIVE AND UNDERSTANDING WHEN I CAME OUT, THOUGH MY MUM HAD SOME ISSUES WHEN I USED TO HAVE MY BOYFRIEND OVER OR IF I USED TO KISS HIM IN FRONT OF HER.

I am an active person, I like to keep as fit as I can and eat well.

I’m in an open long distance relationship. After we’d been sleeping together for a bit he told me he was HIV positive. He thought I’d be worried, but I was just like ‘OK, I don’t give a crap, it doesn’t bother me. You are who you are’.

WHEN I PUT UP A PICTURE ONLINE AND IT DOESN’T GET MANY LIKES, I THINK ‘DOES THAT MEAN I LOOK BAD?’ AND THEN I THINK ‘WAIT, WHY AM I JUDGING MYSELF ON THE AMOUNT OF LIKES I GET?’ I’M GETTING TO THE POINT WHERE I DON’T CARE WHAT I LOOK LIKE ANYMORE.

JACK RATTENBURY

LLANELLI

I GREW UP IN LLANELLI ON THE COAST IN SOUTH WALES. IT’S A SMALL SEASIDE TOWN WITH THE NEAREST GAY SCENE BEING 50 MILES AWAY IN CARDIFF.

I DIDN’T HAVE ANY MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH BEING GAY, BUT I WENT THROUGH A SELF-LOATHING PHASE AND HAD SO MANY DIFFERENT INSECURITIES WHICH HAD AN IMPACT ON MY MENTAL HEALTH.

Most of my knowledge gained about HIV and LGBT relationships came from the Internet. I think it’s important for more education to be available on these topics, especially in the classroom.

I VOTED GREEN THIS YEAR. I THINK WE NEED TO CHANGE THE VOTING SYSTEM DESPERATELY. FIRST-PAST-THE-POST IS RUBBISH IN A SOCIETY LIKE OURS.

I can’t remember the exact age I first had sex, which is quite bad. I was around 16 and I was absolutely petrified.

I FEEL BLESSED TO BE PART OF THIS GENERATION. I’VE ENCOUNTERED A FEW INCIDENTS OF HOMOPHOBIC BULLYING BUT YOU HAVE TO SHAKE IT OFF. WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF ME IS NONE OF MY BUSINESS.

AARYN LYNCH

LIVERPOOL

I GREW UP IN LIVERPOOL AND I REALLY ENJOYED LIVING AND GROWING UP THERE. IT OFFERED SO MUCH TO DO FOR A YOUNG, CREATIVE KID LIKE ME.

WHEN I WAS 13 I WAS OUTED BY MY 'FRIENDS' IN SCHOOL. IT WAS AN AWFUL EXPERIENCE. IT STUNTED MY GROWTH AS A GAY MAN AND MASSIVELY AFFECTED MY CONFIDENCE.

I still have yet to come out to my nan and I don’t know if I ever will. She was raised in a different time. I would hate for her to think any less of me as her grandson.

I am incredibly proud to be a gay black man, but my 'identity' is much, much more than being gay, and it is much more than being black. I feel like I am more than a label.