It has not, however, always been like this. It took me a lot of time to come to terms with my own sexuality. Most of the challenges of being gay I have faced in my life were only in my head. I spend my growing up years living in self-denial as I unconsciously separated my fantasies and desires from the unreal picture I had of myself. It was a foolish mistake. What you long for will always eventually find you, so I gradually learned to embrace who I am. Even though I did not come out to my parents until last year, my hardest coming out was coming out to myself.

The society has not helped me much with my feelings of insecurity. Although it is true that the Czechs are tolerant and Prague is a gay paradise compared to the most parts of the world, this tolerance comes with a price. It is rather ignorance than acceptance. I feel that this is a deeper issue connected to disappearance of ideas and values from our modern democracy. It is easy to tolerate something unusual by overlooking it, but to genuinely embrace something strange is another story. It involves leaving your prejudices, which, I am afraid, cannot be enforced by any law.

I think my whole life is a challenge. I was always very interested in art. When I was 26 I started to study photography at the University. I finished my Master degree with a very personal queer music project Mušnula. You can check it on youtube. I think is very important to express the queer side of my personality. The funny thing is that I am also a yoga instructor. And I am very conservative about yoga. That’s good balance.

I came to my mother the night before I left my parents flat. I was 20 and decided to move to another city to live with my boyfriend. I think my mother was sad not because I told her I was gay, but because I left home. We always had a very strong relationship.

My partner was director of a queer film festival in Prague for 4 years. So we are a part of queer community here. But I am not a party person, I do not drink alcohol and I don’t visit gay clubs or bars. So I really don’t know. I think I know more about yoga community.