Bullied by my Ex Best Friend for Being Gay
By: Patrick M (10th Grade)
My friend, now I realize is super homophobic, but the issue was we are childhood friends, I’ve always known him. So I’m gay, I kinda figured it out in 3rd grade when girls liked me, and I was looking at their brothers more than them. But anyways I never really announced, and just waited for people to figure it out. Flash forward, to 9th grade my friend, let’s call him Conrad, asks me if i’m gay, and I kinda just laugh, but then he says “seriously bro you can’t be gay that’s gross,” and knowing him for like 10 years he’s family to me so I told him, “well I kinda am,” he freaks out so hard then what I call him trying to bully me to convert starts. He starts saying so many things that just scare me and make me feel like everyone would hate me “if you tell your parents, they will disown you,” and “don’t Mary Ann and Sally that you’re gay they won’t be your friends,” or when yk I look/glance at a guy he says “you disgusting (f slur) no one will love you like this.” This continued for the whole school year, and I got completely trapped with the feeling that no one would love me because I was gay, and being gay made me worthless. Things started to turn around for me, however, yk Sally, the one Conrad said would hate me, actually is in the LGBTQ+ Club, she invited me to a meeting and it felt great to be with people who completely understood my struggles. We did a group share, and they all emphasized and related to me, and I didn’t feel so alone. It was great, I started distancing myself from Conrad, and it was hard because he was my childhood friend, but I realized if he cannot accept me for who I am he is not a real friend. He still glares at me in the halls and makes rude comments when I pass, but now I have such a good friend group with the people from the club. So just know your sexuality is not a bad thing, you deserve acceptance and love, and go to safe spaces like an LGBTQ+ Club, because then you will realize you are not alone/ find people with common interests.
-PM (Grade 10)