Kym, 57, from London, came out when she was 14 in 1973

I first “came out” to a few school friends just to see how they would react. You had to be careful – you couldn’t just walk into school and say “I’m a lesbian” or you’d probably have had your head kicked in. I’d never heard of “coming out” – all I knew was that I liked girls instead of boys, which was all I told them. I knew the word lesbian but didn’t really know what it meant. My announcement was met with a chuckle of “No you’re not!” or “That’s perverted: stay away from me.” But the news spread like wildfire around school and when my parents found out they were unhappy.

Back then, even sex before marriage was taboo, never mind talking openly about being gay. You couldn’t just Google anything or even make a phone call without your parents breathing down your neck, so I had no way of asking questions about my emerging sexuality. My mental wellbeing suffered because trying to come out had left me feeling confused about who and what I was.

There weren’t many lesbian role models either, so I had nobody to identify with aside from straight, camp rock stars like Suzi Quatro and David Bowie. Being gay was seen as dirty and disgusting. The tabloid press were overwhelmingly negative, which gave the general public a licence to join in.

When I go to Pride now and see how much things have changed, it makes me proud to have played a part in helping create a society that no longer has a right to abuse and undermine lesbians. We shouldn’t be complacent though, homophobia is still a problem – especially outside of London. The turning point for me was in 2014 when gay marriage was legalised. It was the first time I’d felt equal in the eyes of society. That was a very important day for me.

Celebrating 50 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality