Kenny Campbell Dot Com

Our Lady's High School, Motherwell

When Blairs closed, I returned to Wishaw, and finished my last two years of schooling at Our Lady's High School, Motherwell. There were a few things that I liked about my two year tenure there:

• I liked and got along well with the headmaster, and many of the staff.
• I made one very good friend: Martin Ferguson - we are still in contact, I went to his wedding, and he and his lovely wife Anne have two adorable children.
• I participated in some interesting extra-curricular activites, of which the school magazine - a joint effort between myself and Martin - was by far the most enjoyable.
• There was a "Living Church Week" which involved a lot of full-on religious activity, and I was in my element - hobnobbing with seminarians, leading the harmonies in the Taize chants, the lot.

During this period, I also came out properly. One of my earliest gay acquaintances is, to this day, a dear friend: Brian Boag. The whole coming out experience had its share of ups and downs. Along the way there was the cover-up girlfriend, Karen, who turned out to be a big ole dyke, came out to everyone in the school, and outed me too ... lots of denial required there. Then there was the odious gay switchboard volunteer who tried to take advantage of my innocence (back in the days when I had it). Unfortunately, the way things were for me, although I was out, I wasn't really out, and wasn't really able to go out much. It wasn't until Aberdeen that I really spread my wings. Actually, I don't have wings. I wonder if another part of the body might make a worthy substitute ...

However, when I came screaming into the world at some ungodly hour of the morning, such out-comings lay far in the future.