Imagine

Imagine you are 13 years old, growing up in a homosexual world where everyone is lesbian or gay. Your school teacher is lesbian, your tennis coach is gay, your grandmother is lesbian and your brothers are gay.

Who could you turn to? Who could you confide in to tell your secret?

You’ve been to the school and public library to try and get some information about “straights”. You find one book about straights but don’t dare to borrow it.

In the lunch break at school kids talk about “straights” and how disgusting they are. You are invited to a school party by someone of the same sex. What do you do? You go because you don’t want people to think you are strange or different. Girls are dancing with girls, boys are dancing with boys, holding each other close.

What will you do if your date starts to get close to you and tries to kiss you? What if they find out about you? They might throw you out or beat you up – just for a laugh.

Some people say it’s a sin to be heterosexual. How do you feel when you hear people talking like this?

You are 17 now. You see a magazine in a shop called “Heterosexual News”. Although you are scared and embarrassed to buy the magazine you manage to buy it and get it home. You read about this club in town for young heterosexuals and decide to go along. As you walk towards it you are sure they can tell that you are heterosexual. You finally get to the club and for the first time you meet people like yourself. Young men and women are dancing together, talking together and you meet someone there who you really like.

After going out together for a while you decide to get a flat and live together, but you have to be careful to pull your blinds at night in case your gay landlord sees you kissing and evicts you.

Then one day partner gets knocked down by a car. You go to the hospital and look through the window at the bruised and broken body of the person you love. A sign on the door says ‘next of kin and partners only’.

How are you going to get to visit your partner? Should you tell these lesbian and gay doctors that this person is your partner? Would this affect their care? What do you do?