When my classmates found out I was gay they beat me and left me for dead
even if I deserved that kind of message. How I responded could either ruin me or bag me a boyfriend.But I liked it; I loved how it sounded in my ears when I thought of the several ways those words might leave Mark’s* lips.I responded anyway, with a subtle flirt – ‘Hi!’ and a heart-eyed emoji – and it was received properly.
He flirted right back and we vibed from there. Just like that, we became obsessed with each other. It was Christmas break and we both live in different states in Nigeria, so we’d text and speak on the phone every day.
The day we returned back to school in January 2017, Mark asked me to be his boyfriend. I was 16 years old and so excited. For the first time in months, I didn’t feelalone.
I’d finally found someone that would love me, and that meant something huge to me. He was my first boyfriend.Growing up as a femme man in Nigeria has always been hard.
