The Homo Post is a new style of coming-of-age queer content which aims to change the narrative, break down walls and inspire our community and allies. Featuring LGBTQ artists and role models, helpful information, anecdotes and health, wellbeing and beauty tips, we aim to help queer people find their feet, learn about our community and see that success and fulfilment is achievable, even if you’re in a minority group which is fighting against heteronormativity.
WHO GAVE US PERMISSION?
I’m Murat – the creator of The Homo Post and I’m so happy to welcome you to our sex-positive and shame-free safe space where we cut the bullshit and talk openly about the journeys we face as LGBTQ people.
Born in the U.K. from a Cypriot heritage, I decided to leave London and my 15 year creative career in the luxury beauty and fragrance industry for a new challenge. I moved to Berlin in the height of the COVID-19 lockdown (twat) in March 2020 to start a new job at the gay dating app ROMEO. It’s safe to say that life living on Motzstraße, the epicentre of the sex capital of Europe (if not the world), was not quite what I was expecting!
Having visited many times over the last 12 years, arriving to the deadly quiet street with everything but supermarkets closed was strange to say the least. I quickly realised that I was about to have a lot of time on my hands and a need to have something to focus on apart from binging on Netflix and watching the whole Marvel Universe collection of films in chronological order on Disney+.
At the beginning of my health journey, I was morbidly obese and considering suicide. Since 2010 I had lost a total of 74lbs (33.6 kg) I had maintained this well, but still hadn’t got down to a healthy body fat percentage for my age and height. After the first month of lockdown, I’d gained 7lbs (3 kg) and I knew that the next few months would either make or break my body so I made a choice to take control and do a strict eight-week diet.
This diet is so strict that you basically can’t put anything in your mouth that you haven’t prepared yourself (and counted every calorie in). You learn a lot about food when eating this way and I found focus in challenging myself to make healthy, diet-friendly versions of every dish I had cravings for. As a result I had crafted lots of surprisingly great recipes – many of which were around 300 calories per portion.
A new creative outlet
The first concept for this platform was actually just a simple place to share my recipes when friends, family and Instagram followers were asking for them. My brain then started ticking and I was thinking about all of the other basic nutrition information I had learned on my journey that might be useful to others. I soon realised that there was a lot of connectivity between my physical and mental health and my path to becoming comfortable in my own skin as a gay man. That’s when a metaphorical lightbulb lit above my head! Within an hour I had pages and pages of content ideas about Health & Wellbeing, LGBTQ life, and Beauty & Lifestyle.
Back in London I had a few different creative outlets. The main one was my job, but I am also a singer! I’ve done small gigs for weddings and corporate events and I spent seven years as a proud member of the London Gay Men’s Chorus. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to sing many solos in my time and in some of the most amazing venues in London. Since moving to Berlin and taking on more of a strategic profession, I was eager to find a new creative outlet.
When I was younger I had always dreamed of working for a magazine but it was such a difficult industry to enter without previous experience. With all of my content ideas and my design background things just clicked into place. It was time to create my very own platform.
I decided on the name, designed the branding, thought about my potential audience and began work on building it myself. No out-of-the-box website themes were going to work for me. Given my experience as a digital creative lead, I decided to build a completely bespoke site from scratch that looks and works exactly like I’d hoped it would. The Homo Post was born and I can finally express myself fully and without filter!
Now writing my first piece of content for my newly built website I feel energised, clear about my objectives and raring to go. I really hope to help and positively influence some people who might be at the beginning of their journeys. I’m looking forward to exploring the collaborations to come with some LGBTQ artists and professionals who have been role models to me, especially at a time when I felt like I didn’t know who to look up to.
ONE OF US. ONE OF US.
Subscribe to the mailing list below and follow The Homo Post on Twitter and Instagram to stay up-to-date with new posts. Spread the word and let’s do what this beautiful community does best – support each other! 🌈❤️
GET IN TOUCH
Do you love what you see? Are you curious about collaborating with us? Got an interesting topic you’d like us to explore? We’d love to hear from you, so feel free to reach out by emailing us here.
