Arriving in Italy, at first, fear did not take up space in my mind, as I was open with my sexuality and identity. Only when I went to the city with my girlfriend at the time, I started to feel uncomfortable showing affection in public. That feeling grew bigger as I tried to live my identity unapologetically and got confronted with unprecedented homophobia.
Throughout time, I slowly started to realise how much of myself I was forgetting and hiding, how my voice lowered anytime I would bring up my identity, how I would think twice before making a joke about it, how I restrained myself from kissing someone I liked in public.