NEARLY THREE years ago, when Gabriel was 18, he faced the most courageous decision of his life. His parents were part of an extreme religious group who shunned the outside world and were opposed to higher education, but Gabriel had secretly applied to universities far away from home and had received an acceptance letter from a London university to study creative writing.
He faced a choice: continue working alongside his father as a factory worker; or leave for college and probably never see his family again. There was one other critical factor — Gabriel was gay but his parents and their religious group regarded homosexuality as “an abomination” and had ordered him to undergo “conversion therapy” to “straighten him out”.
“It was a crisp, cold day in September,” recalled Gabriel (whose name has been changed). “I took my brothers to school, said goodbye and told them I loved them. I watched them walk away and I became quite emotional. I knew it would be the last time I saw them.”
Gabriel packed a bag, blocked his family on his phone so nobody could contact him and tempt him home, and then headed for London where university — and potential homelessness — awaited him.
Gabriel would use student loans to fund his tuition and term-time accommodation, but in the summer he had nowhere to go and ended up sofa-surfing for three months and later suffered a breakdown. His university referred him to a charity that offered him therapy as well as housing and job support. Without them, Gabriel said, he would have been unable to continue with his degree.
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