conversion therapy To my 20 year old self, If I could, I would go there and hug you and kiss you and tell you that you’re worth more than they’ve made you believe. I would touch your body - frail and empty - and soothe you until the hate you have towards yourself is smothered by warmth. I'd stroke your hair and feed you cake because you deserve to know you're loved. I'd buy you a plane ticket home. It's okay not to be here. They dont know you and you can leave if you want to. I'd kiss you on the cheek and tell you that you’re not broken.

I am sat across from a pair of incredibly attractive lovers - a man and a woman on the Circle line - entangled with each other’s limbs and sitting peacefully. And while I am struck with awe at their beauty, I feel a stinging pain and jealousy towards them; individually for having found another person’s hand to hold, and collectively for the simplicity of their love, unbound by stigma, shame and interrogation.