I bid you a fond farewell, Felicia.
I do have the audacity to say that gay and lesbian people pay taxes on national TV because, guess what, we do.
I don’t normally respond to hate messages online. The reason I do so now is because I feel the urge to state the obvious. That I am the same person who spent 4 years with you in high school. I haven’t changed one bit. Granted there is a bit of facial hair and a bald spot on my head where they didn’t exist back then but I am still essentially the same person. You didn’t seem to have any problem with me back then. Why is it that you do, now that you know that I am gay and support the rights of gay and lesbian people?
I have known that my sexual orientation did not conform to the “norm” since as far back as I can remember. I knew I was gay when I was in high school. I didn’t say it then because I didn’t know anyone else who was like me. I lived an incredibly lonely life. A lonely life that I didn’t choose. A life that was filled with questions to myself and my maker. Why did I have to be the one person that society shuns. The one person who will bring shame to my family. The one person who will be violated, beaten, spat on, stigmatized and ostracized by society. Why? I went on a journey of self loathing to understanding and finally accepting myself for who I am. This is a journey all gay and lesbian people have to take. Unfortunately for some, acceptance doesn’t happen and they end up taking their own lives. I almost did.
So, yes. I do pay my taxes. I contribute to society. I provide employment to fellow Kenyans. I am a brother, a son, a friend, a confidant and an incredibly patriotic citizen of this beautiful country. I live through the same security concerns that all Kenyans live through. I experience the same rise in cost of living that all Kenyans experience. I am Kenyan. If my being gay, something I have absolutely no control over, or supporting “gayism” is cause for you to feel ashamed, for you to feel like I am shaming my former school, if my sexual orientation causes you to call on Jesus who, as the Bible so clearly says, preached love, if you have a problem with who I am, what I do, where I do it, then bye Felicia.
Love to you Anthony. I'm a 47 year old married hetrosexual male (not that it's anyones business) and I applaud you for being yourself. These who say you bring shsme on the good name of the school are just ill informed insular folk. Seems to me they preach much about you and your life style because their own is dull and unfulfilled. They are a pack of bullies! I don't care if you swallow swords or drink from the furry cup my friend. You are Anthony O to us your friends in the UK. A smart educated man with love, empathy and respect for others. They bring shame on your old school friend and it's name. Were they taught there to become bigots I wonder? Maybe the Christian and Catholic churches perhaps? Who cares anyway! They're narrow minded bigots. If they really did have an education, why doesn't it shine through? Like I have said to you before Anthony, a parachute is still a parachute whether it be open or closed. The same can be said of the human mind. You have to open both in order for tgem to work though. Get pulling ya rip cords and open ya minds up. He didn't kill or mame nobody. Love n oeace to all humanity, creeds and faiths. x
Thank you Anthony, you said what many of us feel. I think you finally succeeds to love your self.
I want to add that when you say “bye Felicia”, I just need to have the courage to do like you….