This Book Is Gay

by Juno Dawson

I surveyed a group of more than three hundred young people in 2012, and ninety-five per cent of them said their school taught them NOTHING about gay sex as a part of sex education.

Individually, we can never know it all, but together we’re quite wise, like that baboon in The Lion King.

You have very little choice about your sexual preference or gender, but you can decide whether to make it a lifestyle.

Your identity is as individual as your fingerprints. Frankly, if you want to identify as a carrot, I will march in the Carrot Pride parade with you.

“If you think of sexuality in terms of music, where the low notes represent being attracted to boys and high notes represent being attracted to girls, I am a Slayer guitar solo.”’

It’s much easier to hate a faceless stereotype than it is a human being.

It’s an identity buffet – you can take your plate up and just have a little scoop of gay, or you can go nuts and load up on as many labels as you can carry back to the table.

‘It’s a free country,’ they say. ‘I can say what I like.’ Well, actually, inciting hatred is a criminal offence so, no, you can’t.

The less we understand a group in society – the less we bother to learn – the more misconceptions and worries we have.

Note: Bum water is not drinking water.

So now that we’ve used this book to deal with your identity, we need to turn our attention to far bigger issues.

I like to think that, before long, you’ll introduce yourself as ‘a dancer’, ‘a fan’, ‘a friend’, ‘a writer’ or ‘a personal trainer’ before, ‘I’m Bob and I’m gay.’ Straight people never have to do this, and neither should we.