R U COMING OUT?
WE LOOK AT HOW YOU TACKLED THE WHOLE COMING OUT THING
JOHNNY COURTNEY, 39, LONDON
2001: The line crackled with tension. I was at work and using my o~ ce phone to call my homophobic dad. My mam had died six months before and as a result I’d check in with him most days.
Today’s quick hello had morphed into something else entirely. He was in a particularly foul mood and demanded to know why I had the audacity to yawn down the phone. I’d been out the night before: I’d danced, drank and eventually crawled home where I threw up in the bath. I told him I’d been for a few beers with my mate, Steve.
“Steve? Who’s Steve? Don’t tell me. I bet he’s one of those queers that you like hanging around with, isn’t he?” An excruciating silence lingered between us before he laughed to himself. “It’s funny how all your mates are queer.”