“My mom went off when she found out I was gay. It’s not accepted in Jamaican culture. I had to pretend I was ‘over it’ just so I could stay in the house. I didn’t really have anyone to talk to about it. I was always getting in fights with other kids. I didn’t even have a real friend until I was seventeen. I joined my school’s volleyball team, and the coach paired me up with a boy named Winnie to work on drills. I was still in the closet. He was much more flamboyant than me. He’d make me laugh. We’d talk about other boys on the team. He showed me how to not take myself so seriously. And we had similar backgrounds too. Winnie lived in a single parent home. His mother didn’t accept his lifestyle either. Sometimes we’d talk on the phone at night. Or we’d get a slice of pizza after practice. These were things that I’d never done with anyone before. I never pursued anything romantic because I couldn’t risk the friendship. It was the first time I didn’t feel alone."