The city doesn’t shimmer into its usual block capitals, white and blinding. Instead, all across the road outside, under the car tyres and bike wheels and feet and street signs, under the watchful eyes of the posters on the lamp posts, it lights up in a rainbow that mirrors ours, footpath to footpath: no words, just colours splashed all the way across the road. It’s the loudest thing the city’s ever said.

And maybe Angel’s right, maybe marriage is a sham, maybe love never lasts, maybe it’s all going to end in tears. But here we all are standing together at the gates of the school, armed with our spray paint and our poems and our passion: a loud-beating part of the city’s heart.

Don’t

Don’t come out unless you want to

Don’t come out for anyone else’s sake

Don’t come out because you think society expects you to

Come out for yourself

Come out to yourself

Shout, sing it

Softly stutter

Correct those who say they knew before you did

That’s not how sexuality works, it’s yours to define

Being effeminate doesn’t make you gay

Being sensitive doesn’t make you gay

Being gay makes you gay

Be a bit gay, be very gay

Be the glitter that shows up in unexpected places

Be Typing … on WhatsApp but leave them waiting

Throw a party for yourself

but don’t invite anyone else

Invite everyone to your party

but show up late or not at all

If you’re unhappy in the closet but afraid of what’s outside

leave the door ajar and call out

If you’re happy in the closet for the time being

play dress-up until you find the right outfit

Don’t worry, it’s OK to say you’re gay and later exchange it for

something else that suits you, fits, feels better

Watch movies that make it seem a little less scary

Beautiful Thing, Moonlight

Be South East London council estate, a daytime dance floor

his head resting on your shoulder

Be South Beach, Miami, night of water and fire

your head resting on his shoulder

Be the fabric of his shirt

the muscles in his shoulder, your shoulder

Be the bricks, be the sand

Be the river, be the ocean

Remember your life is not a movie

and do it with a poem

Email your poem titled ‘Young, Black and Gay’ to your father

to which he will reply, ‘Nice poem’

Accept you will be coming out for your whole life

Accept advice from people and sources you trust

If your mother warns you about HIV within minutes of you coming out

try to understand that she loves you and is afraid

If you come out at 15, this is not a badge of honour

it doesn’t matter what age you come out

Be a beautiful thing

Be the moonlight too

Remember you have the right to be proud