Do you know what how it feels to suffocate?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I always get anxiety attacks when I step out. I grew up in an Islamic household. Thankfully we were relatively liberal, but fundamentally very Muslim. I went to a Christian high school where homosexuality was punishable by beating and expulsion. As high schoolers do, we explored. I watered a seed I didn\u2019t know was there and it grew. Even when I tried to cut it off it\u2019d just grow back. I realized that I was different from other people. I saw things differently and wasn\u2019t afraid to share my perspectives.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did you know that LGBTQIA+ youth are 5 times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexual youth? I got name called and harassed. It had me contemplating suicide. I remember I used to climb to the last floor of the building and look down. I\u2019d imagine how it\u2019d feel like to fall. To just let go and be free. I didn\u2019t let go, or better yet, I was being held back. My friend was the first member of my community. She wasn\u2019t queer, but that shouldn\u2019t even matter. I met the second member of my community in university. His honest straightforwardness was refreshing and genuine. Entirely devoid of any prejudice. He grounded me.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I grew through university and afterwards, I realized that having a community helped me water my seed into a tree that gives shade and fruits to those beneath it. This is home. This is where I belong. Where I can be the best version of myself. A community is where I can breathe.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you know what it feels like to suffocate? I don\u2019t. I have the\u00a0happy humans<\/a>\u00a0and their humanist meetings, I\u2019ve got\u00a0LGBT+ Rights Ghana<\/a>\u00a0and their support and most importantly of all, I have my new family who loves and supports me. All these safe spaces let me be myself without any prejudice or hate. I feel complete.\u00a0 Do you know what how it feels to suffocate?\u00a0 I always get anxiety attacks when I step out. I grew up in an Islamic household. Thankfully we were relatively liberal, but fundamentally very Muslim. I went to a Christian high school where homosexuality was punishable by beating and expulsion. As high schoolers do, we explored. I watered a seed I didn\u2019t know was there and it grew. Even when I tried to cut it off it\u2019d just grow back. I realized that I was different from other people. I saw things differently and wasn\u2019t afraid to share my perspectives.\u00a0 Did…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanism","category-lgbtqia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghanahumanists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghanahumanists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghanahumanists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanahumanists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanahumanists.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=625"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ghanahumanists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":631,"href":"https:\/\/ghanahumanists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625\/revisions\/631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanahumanists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghanahumanists.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanahumanists.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanahumanists.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Regards,\u00a0
The boy behind the flowers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"