Selby Ndlovu, a 16-year-old from Mangweni – a village in the east of South Africa, swallowed a cocktail of pills after it got too much.
He left a suicide note of one line: ‘Being gay doesn’t define the real me and doesn’t make me less of a male’.
But he was found by his younger sister, saving him from succumbing to the pills.
‘Even though my whole family has accepted me, I still have to live my life based on my community’s approval,’ Ndlovu has said after the attempt to Health 24, a South African health news website.
‘It all started as innocent laughter and I even used to laugh with them, but over the years it became uncomfortable and abusive. I was called names that I wouldn’t even say aloud to myself. Last month, it became too much to bear when they poured paint all over my body.’
Ndlovu’s mother said as her son had stopped complaining about the bullies, she thought the situation had resolved.
She said: ‘I am so happy that he survived the suicide but from now and onwards, I will fight his battles no matter what he says. It shouldn’t have come to this because no one should have to commit suicide just because they are trying to fit in their communities.’
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