Craig Hoyle It's been a huge 12 months for Craig Hoyle. Since he left the Exclusive Brethren just over a year ago he has confronted tough aspects of his past in the glare of the media spotlight. Hoyle has also marched at Mardis Gras and celebrated his 21st birthday. Right now, he is exploring Europe with a backpack. GayNZ.com caught up with him before he set off on his trip. Confronting Sydney Hoyle travelled to Mardis Gras in Sydney on Air New Zealand's Pink Flight in March, where he and a friend marched in the parade with Freedom To Be, which is a support group for gay people who have come from Christian backgrounds. He says being at Mardis Gras was an empowering experience, but other aspects of the Sydney trip were tough. Sydney is the Exclusive Brethren's base and it was in the city that a Brethren doctor put Hoyle on the drug Cyprostat, a hormonal suppressant sometimes given to rapists. Australian current affairs show Today Tonight had picked up on his story and filmed him marching. It also went with him and challenged the doctor about the drugs. Hoyle says confronting the doctor, who is now being investigated by health authorities, was hard. "I thought I was strong enough to deal with that. But then to hear him shouting at the reporter about me, you know denying everything, saying that I wasn't telling the truth and so forth, opened a lot of the old wounds," he says. The Today Tonight crew then filmed him outside the main church hall in Sydney, which the 21-year-old says was one of the hardest things he has ever done. "Two years ago when I was in Sydney I was inside that hall as one of the members. And then to be standing outside with the TV crew looking in, it was like yeah – this is different," he says. "We were there when they all came out of the church. To see hundreds of people that I knew, friends and cousins, all coming out of the hall and all ignoring me – one of my cousins standing on the gate and he just gave me this really long look and then turned away." Hoyle says they were chased by church members after filming finished. "We had blacked out four wheel drives following us all the way into the city, from Parramatta. Around and around and around tailgating us. We ended up having to go to the police station to get away from them, they were taken in and arrested. Then we left and there was another carload of them up the road. The police took it very seriously, and there should be a court case over it later in the year." Hoyle says overall, filming the Today Tonight piece was one of the toughest things he has done in the past year. "I broke down and cried twice, on camera, which was embarrassing. I just never imagined that facing the past like that would be so hard." Birthdays and backpacks Around half a dozen other young people have left the Exclusive Brethren since Hoyle came out. Many have been getting in touch with him. "It's really interesting to be able to network with other young people who are going through the same things as I am. Like a friend of mine just left the church and he came out as an atheist. And I think coming out to the brethren as an atheist is just as hard as coming out as gay." Hoyle says after all the media attention, he gets recognised a lot. "I can't go clubbing, or I can't go out for a drink or I can't walk up Queen St without someone stopping and saying 'hey, I know you; I've seen you on TV'. I mean strangers come up to you and like, hug you. It's unusual but it's a way of life you get used to." In May Hoyle celebrated his 21st birthday with about 80 guests at Auckland's Candy bar, with friends travelling to mark the milestone with him from across the country. "A lot of friends and cousins – relatives that I'd never met. And looking around at my 21st I realised that everybody there was my new family. " Hoyle is currently on a massive six month holiday - spending three months backpacking in Europe, after which he'll travel across North America. He is expecting many new experiences along the way. "As I've come out, I am still going through so many firsts. The first Christmas, the first stage show I ever saw, the first stage show I ever saw, the first orchestra I've ever listened to. " Jacqui Stanford - 9th July 2010