More than forty years after being bullied for being gay at high school, I can still remember the fear, shame and desperation it created. Growing up gay in 1983, as the AIDS crisis was emerging, intensified a belief that something was fundamentally wrong with me. This is not a story about blaming the people who bullied me. It is about what bullying can leave behind, how shame can become internalised, and how the need to prove our worth can shape a life long after the school corridors are gone.

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