Cherry Valentine speaks out about growing up as gay in Darlington's traveller community

Cherry Valentine, who is the drag persona of George Ward and appeared on the second UK series of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, made the programme for the BBC.

Cherry Valentine: Gypsy Queen and Proud is now available on iPlayer.

Read more: Drag queen Cherry Valentine returns to Darlington for BBC documentary

George is from Darlington and grew up in the traveller community, and identifies as gender fluid, which means they do not have a fixed identity of being male or female and uses the pronouns they and them.

The 27-year-old mental health nurse grew up in the Romany community  and decided to make the documentary to explore issues around being gay in the community.

Speaking to the Northern Echo, they said: “It was a really up and down experience but I’m so glad I did it. It really changes your perception going through something like that. It opened my eyes to a lot of things.

“When I started out to make the documentary I wanted to get some of the real experiences of people who live in the community. I think I captured some of that.

“I expected to meet people who haven’t been accepted by their families because of being LGBT. But I met people who are accepted as well. I met Traveller Pride and that was a real eye opener.

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“There are people in the community who are accepted. Sometimes I’ve had blinkers on when it came to the community. It’s nice to get a different perspective and show it’s not always the case.”

During the documentary, George returns to Darlington to see one of the camps where some family members live.

Visibly emotional about the experience, they admit finding it hard to go back to the town. 

During the filming, they said: "I don't really have a relationship with the traveller community now. The only people I really speak to is my mam, very rarely my dad and my brother.

"I've distanced myself and they distance themselves from me. 

"I find it hard to connect with me as a kid. I feel like it's not me. I’m looking at someone else’s life.”

But following the documentary, they said they were open to trying to rekindle the relationship.

They said: “I hope so, I started to do that in the documentary and I feel more open to having the conversation.

“It’s all about education. People are fearful of what they don’t understand. I’ve been guilty of that. It’s important to be open to having the conversation.

“I would like to continue getting closer to the community in Darlington. It’s my home town. I do feel a close connection to it.”

They admitted it was terrifying to think of the people they grew up with watching the programme.

"I think it’s similar to what I felt on Drag Race. It’s excitement but it’s terrifying putting everything out there," they added. 

In the programme, George reveals how they came out to their family by writing a letter before running away from home for more than a week and talks about the struggles of not feeling like they fit in.

“I was just different, I never felt like I fit in anywhere. I still feel like that," they said.

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"As I got older life in the community became more complicated. There was a lot of things expected of me when I was 16, 17 and I didn’t know how to act any more.

“I was sick pretend any more so I wrote a letter and told them I was going away for a while.

“I couldn’t just pretend and fit in. I was in a really bad place.”

Speaking to the Echo, George said they thought things might be different for a gay teenager in the community today.

“I would like to hope so,” they said. “There’s a lot more access to things like Traveller Pride. It really only got started in 2019.

“There are things happening but it’s about visibility.”

They added: "It’s so difficult but in a positive way. I do feel like I can say I’m a proud gypsy and gay.”

While their mum is yet to watch the documentary, George said she was “psyching herself” up to it.

They said: “I think its hard for any parent to watch something like that because it’s so real and things come up that we haven’t spoken about. I think it’s difficult for any family but I think it’s a positive thing."

• Cherry Valentine: Gypsy Queen and Proud is available now on iPlayer and will be show on BBC 3 next Tuesday at 10.30pm and again on February 3 and 5.  

Read more: Darlington Gypsy leader fears Appleby Fair could be under threat from new law

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