

Personal Essays
Gay, as in happy
ELLE UK
January, 2024
The friendships, the parties, the sense of self, the humour... there's so much to love about being gay and yet we rarely see enough queer joy.
I’ve always seen my sexuality as a kind of magic power. I’m not just ‘proud’, I’m really pleased I was born this way.
"It was the year 2000. I was 18 and out in every sense, a veteran lesbian by then, having confirmed my sexuality sometime before my GCSEs. London’s Soho was my playground.
"I started kissing strangers on dancefloors circa Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’. ‘And I feel, and I feel, and I feel like I just got home. And I feel…’ That rush. I was young, good looking and loving the heady cocktail of excitement and safety that finding your people brings. Being gay was the best thing in my life. In many ways it still is."