It is around this week that the weather started getting warm enough for me to truly notice that the central line lacks AC, however, this meant that I could use some of the warm-weather-suited clothing I packed (that was my consolation for the pain of showing up to work already somewhat disheveled)!

This week is very special to me, as I went to some pride-themed events as well as London pride itself! I’m a lesbian who is lucky to have been born into a city which features such a robust queer community that we have a “gay village” in Toronto’s Church-Wellesley area, so I was interested to see if London’s queer community provided me with feelings of home. With my coworkers, I attended a lovely play at the Kiln theatre in Kilburn called “the Ministry of Lesbian Affairs,” a story which addressed the issue of a lack of spaces (bars, community spaces, etc.) specifically dedicated to lesbians, and how lesbians feel about that lack of physical belonging. Though the story took place in London, my lesbian friends at home and I have been speaking about these problems ever since we were old enough to go to bars…and therefore old enough to discover that there aren’t a lot of bars for us. It was deeply honest and beautifully acted, spurring interesting discussions between myself and my coworkers. London Pride itself was awesome! My friend group and I spent the day in the Soho area, which really reminded me of Toronto’s gay village, and simply enjoyed the buzz of the happy community.

For my work this week, I began writing the report which serves as a resource for future policy recommendations against “nudifying” or “deepnude” AI Tools, which produce non-consensual intimate imagery of women. I repeatedly relied on my coworkers and supervisors to make sure that I was on the correct path with how I was dividing up the report and what main points I wanted the reader to take from it; for these collaborators, I cannot be thankful enough! They made sure that my anxiety over doing this project “perfectly” never stopped me from doing it at all.