An image textpost on Twitter by Tom @thomasduke98, posted 5:41PM UTC 6 November 2023. The image consists of a comment left on Tom’s Instagram by “silkstonevogue21” in response to a post about the movie “Call Me By Your Name”:
In 2005 I was 20 and ready to burst open the closet door and saw brokeback mountain. I was so frightened sitting in the theatre and hearing people boo and walk out when they kissed. But seeing Heath Ledger holding the shirt at the end destroyed me and I wondered if I’d ever have someone, a man hold me and love me. I went to Italy in 2015 aged 29 to meet a man there who I’d talked with online for 6 months and I wrote a will in case he murdered me because that’s sometimes sadly a reality of being gay. But thankfully he didn’t. We met at the Vatican and he was tall and handsome and kind and I had this beautiful Italian romance at 29 for a summer which I see when I watch this movie. We ran for trains that were just starting to move off from the platform like in old movies and we made love in beautiful Italian towns. We kissed in ancient ruins running from lightning storms and summer rain. We swam in the bluest waters and ate so much pasta. It was perfect. And when we said goodbye at the airport sobbing and kissing in public not caring who saw us still both a little scared of getting hurt we promised to find a way to be together again. I’m 38 now and am wearing the engagement ring he gave me and I moved across the world to be with him and I so wish I could tell all the gay boys hiding in the movie theatres that the real thing is so much better and can happen and it doesn’t always have a sad ending.
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