Justin, in his own words: “I’ve recently come to feel empowered about being gay and being myself. Even living in a city where it is pretty much expected that people accept or at least deal with homosexuality, my experience as a gay man has been filled with ups and downs. It was a struggle for me to embrace my sexuality because I don’t associate with society’s stereotypes of “being gay”. A lot of gay men don’t reflect characters seen on television (though having Darren Criss as my boyfriend would be pretty awesome). The best realization I had was when I was able to understand that people in general (gays too) come in many different sizes, shapes and types and I didn’t have to fit into any of them; I can be my awesome self.”
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John, San Francisco
John, in his own words: “Coming out of the closet was much more about the anticipation. After it was all said and done, everyone I loved still loved me and no one was devastated or anything. And moving to San Francisco from Phoenix was an easy choice. It’s cliche but San Francisco is a bubble. It’s a very small community where you see a lot of the same people all of the time. But it gives it a small town feeling that’s nice and welcoming. I was out with some other gay friends a few nights ago and we were all just going around telling stories about what we’ve been up to. One friend finally says “Wow, being gay is awesome.” It’s hard to describe what that captures but I have to say at the end of the day, it can be a pretty great life.”
Josh, Law Student, San Francisco
Josh, in his own words: “When I was a little kid I had gymnast Barbie. She was awesome. So awesome that I wanted to bring her to show and tell. My mom sat me down and said, “Josh, if you take her to school, the kids WILL make fun of you” to which I responded, “I don’t care, I love her.”
She was right of course. But as I rode home on the bus in a seat by myself–while everyone else squeezed in three to a seat–I was smiling because I got to sit next to the coolest Barbie of 1997.
Being gay, for me, is telling that story at a party and having an entire room of people nod their heads and laugh in understanding.”