stepping out
We all remember that exciting, nerve-racking night when we made our debut on the scene. So what was it like for you, the first time you walked through the door of a gay venue?
DAN HASBY-OLIVER, 30, FASHION PR EXEC & MENSWEAR WRITER
I was hoping my mum would believe me when I said I was meeting friends, but on the drive to Joe’s Bar in Darlington — which was holding its weekly gay night — she quizzed me about who I was going to be seeing on a drizzly Monday night in November; mums always know.
I was 17 and hadn’t come out yet. At my whining insistence, I was dropped off around the corner, but suddenly I felt an aching pang of nerves as I saw her drive off.