Brian, in his own words: “Being gay means never to apologize for being my true self. That you respect my truths and I shall respect yours as well.
I had to continually fight for my place, the recognition of peers, and constantly remind people that hard work, not faking it matters.
[My coming out] is not as dramatic as how I would imagine.. but I fully came out after my parents have died. First mostly to friends then family. Actually a lot of my relatives might not still know it but I decided it wasn’t important to come out to them.
[The gay community in Manila] has its up and downs. We Filipinos are resilient, optimistic and caring. But like probably any gay community, there are cliques within cliques, with a bit of internal homophobia going around.. but we do rally around a cause when needed.
I should’ve told my younger self, to ‘dare more’. Maybe I was afraid to try a lot of newer things back then. One of them was I should’ve become a DJ earlier.
Thank you for sharing, Brian. Best wishes for a long, happy life doing what you love doing.