Michael describes his long and turbulent journey to becoming the better man he believes he is today.

In this extract Michael recalls coming out to his parents and his first ventures onto the gay scene. Surprisingly, Michael's father, an old Etonian, didn't throw him out of the house, advising instead that his son should seek other 'like-minded people', while Michael's mother cried with relief that, what she has suspected was troubling her son, had now come out into the open.

Discovering that there were gay venues in nearby Weston-super-Mare and in Exeter, Michael visited them occasionally. Never feeling entirely comfortable, he met farming people but avoided teachers, as he was one at the time.

Back at school and around the time that Clause 28 was coming into force, in 1988, Michael, who had been put in charge of teaching sex education, was asked by one of his 16-year-old pupils a question about lesbianism. Michael's honest response earned him a stern talking-to by the headmaster and at that point he decided to break free of teaching. Within the year he'd found another job and a new partner, with whom he still lives.

Looking back, Michael admits that coming out as both gay and HIV positive are among the hardest things he's ever had to do. Admitting that he had more sex as a youth and later with women, than he ever had with men, Michael says that today, he wouldn't be the person he is now if he hadn't undergone those experiences.

He adds that he's now a very spiritual, religious man, who, with his partner, is involved in their local church. He feels a complete and strong person, is no longer angry, and is sympathetic to anyone who's gone through a similar mental or emotional turmoil, because he's been there himself - an experience which Michael now views positively, as character defining.

Michael was born in Horley, Surrey, in 1949, before moving with his family to rural Somerset. His father, an Old Etonian, was a farmer and his mother was a teacher. Despite attending a public school, Michael also trained to be a teacher.

Until he was in his thirties, Michael was deeply conflicted about his homosexuality. He had many dalliances with boys of his own age and later with girls. He got to know a snail expert who was conducting research on Exmoor. Though married, the man made a pass at Michael, who was shocked by the experience.

Another friendship was with a fellow biker, who ridiculed the absence of women in Michael's life. In revenge, Michael found a girlfriend, who was already engaged to someone else, and had a seven-year relationship with her, despite her eventual marriage to another man.

Having also suffered with a long-running nervous break-down, Michael eventually came to terms with his sexuality with the help of friends and a local vicar.

After numerous encounters, Michael eventually found his life partner, just as he learned that he was HIV positive, though he says he was never that promiscuous.

He and his partner became involved in their local church and have received much support from the priest and the congregation. Michael has ambitions to write and has enrolled on some of the gay author, Patrick Gale's creative writing courses.

The infamous Section 28 was a clause in the 1988 Local Government Act which aimed to prohibit local authorities from promoting or publishing any material that was intended to promote homosexuality and to prevent the 'teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship'.

In the years prior to the Act the Conservative government, led by Margaret Thatcher, cited various children's books like 'Jenny lives with Eric & Martin' and 'Young, Gay & Proud', as being part of a general political campaign, supported by Labour, trades unions and organisations like the GLC, to undermine 'traditional family values'. The latter's funding of LGBT groups from council funds, and the anti-discrimination policies of many other local authorities added 'credence' to the claims of MPs like Jill Knight, who with David Wilshire, was responsible for introducing Clause 28. These events were also taking place with the AIDS epidemic in the background.

Clause 28 galvanised the gay population into taking action through public demonstrations as well as the creation of campaigning groups like Stonewall and OutRage. Clause 28 was eventually repealed in Scotland in 2000 and in England and Wales in 2003.