Based on a life story interview with Drake (12 October 2019)

My name is Drake. I came to Kenya because of the insecurities I faced back home in Uganda. Not only insecurities, but also the stigma, the difficult life. Because of my sexual orientation I was stigmatised, I got insults, both verbal and physical; I got some scars but I managed to escape and came to Nairobi. It was because of my sexual orientation, because they discovered that I was queer. Or let me use the word that everyone uses, that I was homosexual. I myself am okay being homosexual but I don’t think the community thought that it was okay for me to be homosexual. First it began verbally, when I would pass by. I tried to keep ignoring them, as I want to live my life in a very simple, humble way. Then it turned out to be physical, and yeah.

I came to know my sexuality in class three at primary school. I used to have friends, let me just mention one of them. He was called Tom. He used to be my friend. I went to a Catholic boarding school; it was a mixed school. Actually, the first time we met, we became friends, we clicked so well. At that school, every night after showering, they told us to go to the dormitory. When we reached the dormitory, we started playing until 8:30pm; then they switched off the lights. That was the time where we had to go to sleep, because we had to wake up early the next morning. One night, I went to his bed and we did something, something dirty. We never had any idea about what to do. What we knew was kissing and if you kiss, you have to lick someone’s tongue, the whole lips. Not like in the professional way. We continued that act again and again. So, in primary seven we still had the same thing going on. Still with him. But I also had other partners whereby we mingled, not him alone.