A Note from Jose and Miguel, Frías, Argentina

photo by Kevin Truong

photo provided by Jose

photo by Kevin Truong

photo provided by Jose

photo by Kevin Truong

photo provided by Jose

photo by Kevin Truong

photo provided by Jose

photo by Kevin Truong

photo provided by Jose

photo by Kevin Truong

photo provided by Jose

photo by Kevin Truong

photo provided by Jose

Jose, in his own words: “Yo soy Jose, tengo 60 años y soy arquitecto.

Mi marido es Miguel, tiene 71 años y es jubilado.

Nos conocimos hace ya 32 años un 7 de febrero.Yo estaba casado y vivía en la ciudad de Córdoba,luego de conocer a Miguel pedí mi divorcio para irme a vivir con el a Buenos Aires y desde entonces estamos juntos.
Primero hicimos la Unión civil en la ciudad de Buenos Aires, que fue un hermoso logro para la comunidad gay de esa ciudad.Nosotros en esa época viviamos alli.

Hace 12 años nos radicamos en una ciudad pequeña, llamada Frías en el interior de la provincia de Santiago del Estero.

El 30 de julio del 2010 y por la nueva ley de matrimonio igualitario, nos casamos aquí en Frías.Por ese hecho fuimos el primer matrimonio igualitario de Latinoamérica.La ciudad de México nos regalo la luna de miel en DF y En Cancún.

Nuestra militancia tiene que ver con el hacer diario de una pareja gay, creemos que si cada gay logra el respeto de su grupo cercano, llegará un momento en que la red será tan densa que abarcará a la sociedad toda.Nuestra lucha entonces, siempre fue insertarnos desde el respeto en la sociedad que nos rodea y lo hemos logrado ampliamente.

Somos un matrimonio de ya casi 6 años, legalmente, pero de 32 años de convivencia ininterrumpida.Somos felices y lo vivimos plenamente día a día.Nos enorgullese escuchar de nuestros allegado que somos una hermosa pareja.Nos enorgullece poder mostrar que los gay podemos formar una familia, diferente, pero familia.Que tenemos sueños que cumplimos y derechos que adquirimos.”

In English:

“My name is Jose, I am 60 years and am an architect.

My husband is Miguel, he is 71 years old and retired.

We met 32 ​​years ago on the 7 of February. I was married and lived in the city of Cordoba, after meeting Miguel I asked for my divorce to go live with him in Buenos Aires and we have been together since.

First we did the civil Union in the city of Buenos Aires, which was a beautiful achievement for the gay community in that city. At that time we lived together there.

12 years ago we settled in a small town called Frias within the province of Santiago del Estero.

On July 30, 2010 after the new law on equal marriage, we got married here in Frías. We were the first gay marriage in Mexico City in Latin America. Our honeymoon was in Mexico City and Cancun.

We have been married for almost six years, legally, but 32 years of happy coexistence. Today we live it fully. We are proud to hear from our close friends who are beautiful. We are proud to show that a gay couple can form a family, different, but a familia. That we have dreams that we fulfill and rights we acquire.”

Brett, Database Analyst, Little Rock, Arkansas

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

Brett, in his own words: “Being gay is my sexual identity. Being gay plays a large role in the choices I make politically. I am not a one issue voter, but gay rights and marriage equality are extremely important.

The biggest challenge that I have had is recovering from pneumocystis in 1996. I spent 7 weeks in the hospital that summer. The biggest success is the recovery of my immune system after protease inhibitors were created in 1996. Perfect timing.

The gay community in Little Rock and central Arkansas is like most areas now. There is still some discrimination, but for the most part gays live, work and play along side everyone else. We’re in the same struggle as most states over marriage equality and waiting to see how far up the courts it goes. Was a beautiful summer here going to weddings of same sex couples.

I came out at 19 while in the Navy. A buddy in boot camp said he knew I was gay and took me to my first gay bar in Orlando, FL in 1982. I really never had any issue after that. My family gave me hell over it for a few years, then they got over it.

I would tell my younger self to relax and don’t sweat the small stuff.”

Jorge, Writer, Santiago, Chile

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

Jorge, in his own words: “Ser gay es una legítima forma de vida, cuestionada por más de un siglo por la sociedad heterosexual, lo que hizo en el pasado que los gays vivieran en una especie de realidad paralela. Una realidad ligada con la criminalización, la enfermedad y la inmoralidad.

En las últimas décadas se abrió una posibilidad de que los homosexuales viviéramos como seres normales, enfrentando finalmente nuestros sentimientos, nuestros valores y nuestras debilidades. Pero veníamos tan dañados por tanto prejuicio acumulado, por tanta negación de nosotros mismos, que este proceso de inserción en la sociedad heterosexual ha sido un proceso muy difícil. Agreguemos a eso el terrible flagelo del Sida que nos diezmó en la década del 80 y generó un nuevo estigma en contra de la comunidad gay a lo largo del mundo.

He sido toda mi vida gay. Desde adolescente tuve la película muy clara. Siempre me gustaron los hombres, me he enamorado de hombres toda mi vida. Por ello me cuesta hacer una diferencia entre lo que era mi vida en épocas más oscuras, cuando en Chile no se podía casi hablar de nuestra homosexualidad, hasta el día de hoy en que, aparentemente, todo el mundo puede salir del closet con cierta facilidad.
Por ello, no mido mis triunfos en función de mi homosexualidad. Eso estuvo ligado a toda mi actividad como ser humano. He amado, he escrito, he vivido toda mi vida en esas condiciones, por lo que, en definitivas, mis triunfos y fracasos se miden como otro ser humano más.

La comunidad gay en Santiago de Chile, es un poco como en todas partes en el Hemisferio Occidental. Se vive en guettos marcados por diferencias sociales, culturales, de edad. En los años 70 cuando yo era un muchacho, logré tener muchos amigos. Esas relaciones se fueron desgastando con el paso de la vida y ahora los miro con cierto rechazo. En esta última década surge con fuerza una generación mucho más preocupada de sus derechos, con fuerte intromisión en la vida pública, capacidad de visibilidad y atentos a sus derechos. Yo espero y ansío que estas generaciones jóvenes rompan finalmente todas las barreras y se hagan cargo de sus vidas, aprendan a convivir en parejas y a crear sus propias familias. Quizás solo en ese momento la estigmatización y la homofobia que existe fuertemente en Chile pueda comenzar a acabarse.

Mi salida del closet no tuvo nada de espectacular. Insisto. Fui gay toda mi vida. Tal vez lo interesante sea que fui capaz de tomar las riendas de mi vida desde muy jovencito. A los 22 años me enfrenté con una madre muy posesiva y dominante y dejé mi casa. Nunca más volví a vivir dentro de una familia heterosexual. He vivido solo, he vivido con pareja – una larga relación de más de 20 años – que desgraciadamente se terminó. Un consejo para los muchachos de hoy: salir de sus hogares, hacer sus propias vidas, no desaprovechar ni un solo minuto porque la vida se pasa rápido y después no sirven de nada los arrepentimientos.”

In English:

” Being gay is a legitimate lifestyle, questioned for more than a century by heterosexual society ,which he did in the past that gays live in a kind of parallel reality . A reality linked to the criminalization, disease and immorality.

In recent decades a possibility that homosexuals live as normal human beings, eventually facing our feelings, our values ​​and our weaknesses opened. But we were so damaged by both cumulative prejudice by ourselves so much denial that this process of insertion in heterosexual society has been a very difficult process. Compound this with the terrible scourge of AIDS that decimated us in the 80s and created a new stigma against the gay community throughout the world.

I have been gay all my life. Since I was very young I have clear the movie. I always liked men, I am in love with men all my life. So I find it hard to differentiate between what was my life in darker times, when in Chile there could almost speak of our homosexuality, until today that apparently everyone can come out fairly easily.

Therefore, I do not measure my success in terms of my homosexuality. That was linked to all my activity as a human being. I’ve loved, I have written, I have lived all my life in these conditions, so that in final , my triumphs and failures are measured more like another human being.

The gay community in Santiago de Chile, is a bit like everywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. We live in ghettos marked by social, cultural, age differences. In the 70s when I was a young, I managed to have many friends. These relations were wearing over life and now look with some reluctance. In the last decade a much powerful emergence of rights more concerned with strong interference in public life, visibility and capacity aware of their rights generation. I hope and look forward to these younger generations eventually break all the barriers and take charge of their lives, learn to live in pairs and create their own families. Perhaps only then stigma and homophobia that exists heavily in Chile can begin to end.

My out of the closet had nothing spectacular. I insist. I went gay all my life. Perhaps the interesting thing is that I was able to take control of my life since very young. At 22, I was faced with a very possessive and domineering mother and left home. I never again live in a heterosexual family. I lived alone, I have lived with a partner – a long relation of more than 20 years – which unfortunately ended. A tip for the boys today: leave their homes, making their own lives, not wasting a single minute because life passes quickly and then they are of no regrets.”