I am feeling incredibly emotional this evening. What I’m feeling ranges from intense pride in a friend whose courage in telling his story will help others, to equally intense, ice-cold rage at what he has had to endure over the years. Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett is the Liberal Democrat candidate for Vauxhall. He is a former chair of LGBT+ Lib Dems. Tonight, he has spoken to Buzzfeed about the bullying he suffered at school, how this led him to contemplate suicide at the age of just 14 and how his mental health deteriorated during his early adult life. He tells how he contracted HIV 11 years ago.

The fact that Adrian’s health has improved, he has found happiness in his personal life and professional success will be an inspiration to other young people who are suffering in the same way. I understand a little bit of what it’s like to be that teenager everyone hates who thinks the world would be so much better without her. Except when I was a teenager, nobody talked about this kind of stuff and I thought I was alone and the feelings I had were because I was a bad person.

You need to read the whole interview. It’s powerful, eloquent and very, very frank.

Adrian talks about how the bullying he experienced at school affected him:

I wasn’t seen as the big, strong lad at school so the comments came: ‘gay’, ‘poof’, ‘bender’. I would cry in the toilets or somewhere there was no one around. I would try and not let it show in front of them, even though it hurt me intensely. I never had a close friend.”

He also started to realise the hateful names were accurate. “I knew my parents and the people around me wouldn’t understand. I knew I couldn’t tell anyone. There was nowhere I could go; nowhere I could talk. I became depressed and anxious. With psychological bullying all you have is the words whirling around your head – comments thrown at you in the sports room, in the gym, walking home from school.

The bullying left him with fragile mental health which led him into using drugs and contracting HIV.

Why has he decided to talk about his experience now?

He explains that he became HIV positive “as a consequence of all these things – bullying, mental ill health, low self-esteem… All those things could have been prevented. Yet all these things are still happening and no one is talking about it. I feel I owe it to the community to talk about it.

“There are enough people on the gay scene who are aware of the problems but there hasn’t been an open discussion at any level – political, governmental or at a community level.”

The need for such a conversation is undeniable. Last year, one London HIV clinic asked its patients what worried them most. The top three concerns were not medical but social: stigma, isolation and discrimination.

What does he think needs to happen now?

There needs to be joined-up thinking across government departments to implement preventative measures,” he says. “Starting off in schools with sex – and same-sex – education from a young age, compulsory in all schools. Homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying needs to be tackled properly, too.

We need much more education in schools and the workplace around HIV, to reduce stigma, but more than that: there used to be television campaigns about it, but there hasn’t been anything in recent years. Young people are often completely unaware because of a lack of education.

A few snippets here doesn’t really do such an eloquent and honest interview justice. You really need to read the whole thing for yourself, but have some tissues and a cup of tea to hand. You really will need them.

Let’s hope that his openness helps both LGBT young people and compels those who work with young people to make sure that they tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.

LDV needs to be a safe space where people feel comfortable about sharing their experiences, especially on posts like this. For that reason, comments on this post will be pre-moderated.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings