My Experiences as a Gay Student at a University in England.

© Photo by Amae

In the late 1980s, I was accepted into a BA Industrial Design course at a University in the North of England. Before starting this course, I studied for an Art and Design Diploma in Manchester for a year. During the middle to the late 1980s, Manchester was one of the UK’s most vibrant popular music centres. I first came out in Manchester. I still remember, with slight embarrassment, pacing up and down Canal Street with my heart in my throat. After what felt like an eternity, I finally found the courage to climb down the stairs into the basement where the gay friends’ event was taking place. Standing in front of the door, I froze; fortunately, a man opened the door. I stood petrified. He asked, “You are new here?” I said nothing. He then asked me to please come in. My legs leaden, I walked through the doors.

As I later found out, Manchester was/is one of the most gay-friendly cities in the UK. The Gay scene in Manchester in the middle to the late 80s was vibrant. I had a wonderful time coming out in the city. I was out nearly every weekend dancing and socialising. I developed a friendship with the man who had greeted me at the door of the gay friends’ society. I became friends with him, his partner and his sixty-year-old mother. His mother would go out with her son and his partner every weekend. Everyone knew her; she would grace and stay on the dance floor for most of the evening…