From the film Listen to me: Sevak, 27
When I was young, there were chewing gum wrappers that showed pornographic characters. I was six years old, when I unwrapping the gum and upon seeing the drawing of a woman , I would be disappointed. I was interested in the figure of a man but I did not know then what homosexuality was or what being attracted meant.
At 16 I felt that in one way or another I was not able to be fully integrated in society at large.
I had hung a poster about homosexuality in my room. My mother asked me what that was, and if it were probable I was one of “them”. I told her: so what if I were like them, what was the problem? She started crying saying that it was a nightmare and how she had made fun of them and now my own child is like them. I was unable to find words and I couldn’t say “mum, I’m gay.”
My Mother used to say the Gay people should be burned because they were as disgusting as rats. I assumed she said that to protect me.
When I told her about me, it was clear, yes, she did that for me.