A moment that changed me: I was gay, disabled, alienated. With seven kind words, my life began

Sitting on the sofa, bored with waiting for our lives to start, my best friend, Joanna, suggested we go to Pride..

Spilling out from the station were more gay people than I had ever seen: an older man in camouflage combats wearing a pair of angel wings, a trio of drag queens in tight red sequins, polished as a Motown girl-group..

I watched them crossing the road, feeling like I was underdressed, as if Pride was just another place I didnt belong...

I still felt like the bullied boy, my eyes fixed to the whiteboard, ignoring the sting of spitballs on my collar and the breaktime shouts of bender..

It was trying to rain, but we didnt want to miss the party, so we took a cab south to Brockwell Park, where the Pride festivities continued..