Category Archives: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Tapioca, Political Advisor, Rio De Janeiro

photo by Kevin Truong

João, in his own words: “I don’t really like to identify myself as gay because I believe this concept has been moralized. I feel it’s been captured by a conservative agenda to normalize deviant men. If you perform the role of the sexless fairy consumer, then you are accepted. I’d rather be identified as a queer (in portuguese I like to use the word “transviado”). For me being queer is rejoicing in inadequacy. It’s that permanent feeling that you are an outsider; a stranger to established norms of moral and behavior. Instead of knocking on the doors, begging for acquiescent acceptance, we chose to glitter bomb society. After all, I’m an avowed Pink Bloc, Glitter Vandal, Anal Terrorist and so on. Being queer is resisting oppressive identities that divide us. It is being a nonconforming body and soul.

My advice to myself in the past would be:
Listen, honey! That thing that it gets better is pure bullshit! You do get stronger though. Strong enough to fight for your rights, to go out wearing whatever you want and holding hands with whomever you like. Don’t argue, act. Flaunting is not only beautiful, it’s revolutionary.”

Diego, Strategic Planner, Rio De Janeiro

photo by Kevin Truong

Diego, in his own words: “Being gay is just one kind of expressions of human sexuality and behaviour.

For me, IT doesn’t make me different or special – it is just me being myself.
I’m gay, but before this I’m just another man who wants to discover the world, build a family, have nice friends, show my own talent, and ultimately be happy.

I once saw in a movie something like this: “In life, you can make a choice: to be happy or to be sad. I choose to be happy.” Yes… I choose it too.”

Alcinoo, Photographer, Rio De Janeiro

photo by Kevin Truong

Alcinoo, in his own words: “Being gay is a definition like any other, and like all definitions it has a place in my world in as much as it needs to be taken apart at the seams. And fundamentally it has meant many things at different times. So while there were times when it meant defining my persona, my place (or lack of) within the groups I frequented or wanted to be part of, now it is less an opportunity to define as something to discover and ultimately to let go of. I find having to think of myself as gay as a peculiar opportunity. Its biggest blessing has lied in forcing my own evolution as a human being to include rather than exclude, to grow compassionately and remain open. I always felt that it served that purpose from the day I had to start to define anything related to my sexuality. A way to be more open, accepting, humble, understanding. Ultimately making me into a better person through all the nuances of what it meant growing up gay in the 70s and 80s. Being on the edge of things keeps me on my toes.

I have a big issue with gay-ness mostly being related to the sexual act, or serving as a definition for sexual preference. It beggars belief how anyone could be referred to and defined so heavily just by that, as I see myself as so many things beyond my sexuality. Yet it becomes an issue and in a way as gay men we are forced into mental and physical ghettos.

Learning first hand about the significance of preconceptions is invaluable none the less as they define all human interactions.

You ask what the gay community in Rio is like, but I am probably not the best person to ask, and I don’t have many good things to say about it. I know lots of gay men in Rio, friends and acquaintances and I find it hard to put them in a box, or a community, because each one is defined by their own personal trajectory. I find that the gay community in Rio is a group made of so many ricocheting individuals drawn together by a need to belong and gelled by drugs and sex into that whole. Reason why I don’t frequent bars, clubs, saunas, beaches.

There are many gay communities in Rio. I like to think I create a gay community every time I meet with my friends. Whether they be gay or not!”

THE GAY MEN PROJECT

The visual catalog of gay and queer men around the world.

Category Archives: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Tapioca, Political Advisor, Rio De Janeiro

Diego, Strategic Planner, Rio De Janeiro

Alcinoo, Photographer, Rio De Janeiro