Kyla Greenhorn

It was a pleasure this week to interview Kyla Greenhorn who is studying for a PhD in Religious Studies at the University of Kent. Kyla was born in Kansas and she discusses the reasons why so many American students choose to study in the UK. She decided from a young age that she wanted to move to Europe and now sees the US as a foreign country. She talks about how her family is predominantly Republican and pro-Trump and how this doesn’t sit well with her being a member of the LGBT community.

Kyla comes from an evangelical background and her sexuality affected her entire family dynamics, especially after she came out as bisexual to her mother. We talk about how the experience changed her, and how she can now make a stand for causes she believes in.

Musically, Kyla reminisces about the boy bands she grew up listening to and how her musical tastes these days range from heavy metal to church music and how music is the most consistent thing in her life. She also explains why ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ is her favourite movie and we learn what happened when she once performed a scene from ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’.

We learn why at school Kyla tended to avoid Religious Studies and how and why she subsequently found an unexpected way in to the subject. The conversation then moves to her experience of dealing with bigotry when it comes to gender and sexuality and to societal prejudices towards homosexuality.

Kyla reflects on why the bad things in her life might be thought of as stepping stones towards something more and, in the final part of the interview, we learn what is her biggest regret and why she is currently stuck between the past and the present.

Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Kyla Greenhorn and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.