"I will always love you dad"

When I came out to my now ex-wife in 2007, I had everything planned and organised to support her come to terms with my devastating news. I had organised for our two boys, aged 7 and 10 at the time, to be looked after temporarily by my mother, and I also had psycological support booked and organised to assist my ex-wife professionally come to terms with my devastating news. My plan was to not initially tell the boys, because I wanted my ex-wife to be in a better state of mind, and also be ready to support the boys with this news as well, as they would be staying with her after the break up. Unfortunately though, my ex-wife went straight home and blurted out to the boys the news, in a way I believe to punish me. I still collected the boys after this and drove them to my mother's place for the weekend, while my ex-wife started her process of coming to terms with my news. Whilst driving over the Gateway Bridge on my way to mother's house, the boys and I were chatting about my news, and I clearly remember as we approached the top of the Gateway Bridge, my youngest son Nick, who was 7 at that time, said "Don't worry dad, I will always love you." No matter how hard things have ever got in my life since coming out, I always treasure this moment in my history, and still to this day, can hear Nick saying those words to me. Immediately after coming out, my access to the boys was restricted, which was incredibly hard, but around May 2008, I managed to get back on my feet, got a lease on a house in New Farm, Queensland, got flat mates, and met a lovely guy called Manny at The Beat Mega Club, who was the first "true love" of my life. He happened to be there after work with his friend Beth and was watching me dance shirtless on a dance podium. Beth thankfully approached me and said come and sit at our table, and that's how our romance began. The Beat Megaclub is also where I met my favourite bartender Heath, who I believe took some pictures of me dancing on the podiums and posted them on The Beat's social media pages. Strangely it was at The Beat where people used to say to me "What are you on?", in relation to drugs. I never took drugs to be happy and dance freely as I did, it was just alcohol. But lots of people couldn't believe that, including some members of my family, and unfortunately for me, that is where one of the false narratives about me began. In relation to the "my first true love" comment, I wish to clarify that when I married my wife in 1994, at that time, I truly thought I loved her, as I simply didn't know what "true love" was to me until I actually met Manny. Manny moved into the New Farm house, and we began a very happy life together. My family finally permitted me independent access to the boys and they came and stayed every second weekend. Manny was fantastic with them, and cooked them some amazing meals. There were some really fabulous times had in that house, but it also wasn't free of problems. But for the first time in my life, I felt like I had the utopian "gay dream". Here's Manny with the boys Matt (10 years old in the blue jacket) and Nick (7 years old in the green sleeved t-shirt), and of course me in 2008 (40 years old).