Steve: ’Occasionally the teacher would bring up the idea of homosexuality and being gay and then it was such an amazement to the rest of the class because no one else would bring it up. And then really ignorant remarks would come from the boys, the lads at the back of the class.’
Neil: ’The only mention of gay men was jokes. Even the teachers made jokes at my expense because of the rumours about me. Which is something I found really hurtful.’
Martin: ’I was waiting and expecting to hear something about homosexuality, safe sex and different things in sex education. Maybe some information that could help me. But I got nothing. There was nothing.’
Nigel: ’I used to get a whole load of hassle. At that point I didn’t even know I was gay and you can’t go to your parents and say ’someone kicked me at school today, because they thought I was a poof.’’
Matthew: ’It’s funny now because at the time I thought I was the only one, and yet now I see four of us out at the gay club I go to. From the year below there’s about another four that I see around.’
Tim: ’Paul couldn’t understand it because we’d done holidays together and I would act as one of the lads. Like in the pub -we’d drink loads and I think it was just so hard for him. I don’t think he could cope with me going from being one of the lads to saying, ’He’s nice’ when I was having a laugh with the girls.
I think you need to .. perhaps even not tell your school friends. Try to lead a double life for a while. And just see if you find new friends before you just dump everything and say, that’s it. Because I think it’s a lot easier to be gay if your school friends put two and two together, without just telling them, and them reacting harshly. Because I think they accept it a lot easier than if you just smack them in the face with it.’
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