1. Rosa, 14, was a victim of homophobic abuse.
I'm a lesbian. I accepted that a long tome ago but when the time
came to tell my friends, it was a different story.
I fell for a girl and I wanted the whole world to know how I felt
about her. Unfortunately nothing is ever that easy.
I decided I had to come out to my friends but when I eventually
plucked up the courage to tell them the truth about my sexuality
their response was not what I hoped it'd be.
The majority of them had a really negative reaction and only one was
supportive. But my closest friend's reaction was awful.
It started with that look of utter horror and disbelief, and turned
into a burning hate. I couldn't understand it, one minute she was
beside me saying she'd help me no matter what, the next she was
edging quickly away from me, freaking out and telling me I was
queer.
She and a few others began to bully me pretty badly about it. It
started off with small things like taking my pens from me in class
and saying mean things like I was a freak. But then it escalated until
the things they said to me were so bad I wanted to harm myself.
Self harming felt like my only way to cope.
They told me I was just looking for attention so I could brainwash
others into being gay too. This was not only incredibly hurtful but
also really ignorant. You can't just 'turn someone gay' it doesn't
work like that.