1. Can you tell us, Wayne a bit more a out your own story and what it was like for you when you came out?
I came out at the age of 16 it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, The first person I did tell was my mother. My mum was completely fine about everything and it was the first time I actually felt comfortable about my sexuality. My mum didn't really want to hide anything from anyone because she wasn't ashamed of me and didn't believe that I should have been either.
My mum started to tell my immediate family which included close family. My brother and father found it very hard to deal with this at first but are now completely fine with me as they now understand that I didn't choose to be gay. Because my immediate family were told, others started to find out e.g School, friends. My school did alienate me and they didn't want anything to do with helping me in the situation that I was in. At the age of 16 I can admit now I didn't really understand about the feelings that I was having, and they brought me and my mother in and asked questions to my mum, for example they asked here if it was something she had done to me, was it maybe a phase that I was going through etc.. No one in the school at the time would give me and my mum the support that was needed, some friends where fine and others didn't understand so they started to drift away from me. My mum had to pull me out of school as I was finding it hard with teachers and also other pupils which really effected my school work. I'm now 23 years of age and I know I've worked very hard to get to where I am with support from my family and I find now looking back that there was never anything to ever be scared of as family and close friends stuck by me while there was questions that did need answered.
2. What challenges, if any, have you encountered due to your sexuality? Do you feel that you have to hide or are people accepting?
I haven't experienced any challenges because of my sexuality, I think I've been rather lucky as people have been very accepting of who I am, I've never hid anything from anyone and if anyone asked I would tell them. The only problems I did have was with some teachers in my school and pupils, but that was taken care of by me being removed from the situation, but I do think I have been very lucky with everyone in my life that has been very accepting.
4. Can you give any advice to young men who may be questioning their sexuality and may be unsure of who to talk to ?
The best advise that I could give anyone on questioning their sexuality would be to go to someone close to them and talk about their feelings, There's no point on bottling something up as the more you hide something the worse you will feel about yourself. By having a chat with someone also it will lift a weight off your shoulders.
5. What do you think, if anything, needs to change in NI for the LGBT community and can you tell us what you would do to help affect that change?
To be honest I think we are moving in the right direction as everything is more open now than what it would have been years ago. I'm just glad I'm living in this day and age now than living years ago and it being more frowned upon.
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