Tag Archives: kevin truong

Sepi, Social Worker, Jakarta, Indonesia

photo by Kevin Truong

Sepi, in his own words: “For me being gay is a destiny in my life, a feeling that is directly given by God, many people said that being gay is a choice but I totally disagree, because God never asked and gave me a chance to choose my sexual orientation.

Lots of people don’t know much about being gay and there are haters that strongly disagree about legalized same-sex relationships, but whether they know it or not true love begins with a feeling of the heart to another heart and doesn’t begin with sex to the other sex.

The challenge of my life as being gay was when I was 7 years old, and realizing I was a man who loved men, my struggling is how to love myself, trying to accept my sexual orientation because I live in a religious family environment, and when I was student in elementary school, I heard a phrase that “God loved His people,” since then I believe that God also loved me because I was created as a gay child.

I have a very unique story when I came out to my mom, when I was 20, I made a picture and I wrote the word in that picture “I’m sorry mom, I’m gay,” and I shared these images on my account on Facebook, and then my mom saw it. My mom left a comment on the picture and she said, “I’m feeling sad right now, maybe God has punished me for the sins I’ve done.” But I convinced my mom that no one is to blame on this case, “I said this is given from God.” And I’m very lucky because until now our relationship is very good and we became much closer, my mom just told me please be a good gay, and I’ll never forget the moment of that and I still keep the picture on my Facebook.

I was born and raised in Cianjur, West Java, which is a village and very homey. I had to walk about 20 minutes when I went to school, there is a conservative culture, so I only knew a little bit about the gay lifestyle. I tried to find information about being gay via social media, and at the end when I was 15 I began to knew about Top and Bottom terms, and after I finished my studies in high school when I was 17, I moved to the city of Jakarta, and here I knew what is the meaning of life, I can meet with many people who like me, in the city there are a lot of places for the gay community to gather like gay organizations, bars, parks, cafes, malls etc. Jakarta gives me with a lot of friends who helped me become a confident and modern gay.

(Advice to my younger self) Life as a gay man would not be easy, you will struggle to accept yourself, when you feel different, my advice is just to love yourself, follow your heart, because your heart will lead you to happiness, don’t listen to a bad word about your sexual orientation, but just listen if someone comments about your personality as a human, be friendly, stay humble, respect one another, because being a good gay is someone who has a good heart, and don’t forget to do the best with your attitude, because I love to set everything by attitude, enjoy your life and believe everyone can easily accept you as being gay.”

My Talk on the Gay Men Project

I recently gave a talk in partnership with Portland State University on my work with the Gay Men Project. I put a lot of hard work and heart into preparing this talk, so when you get a chance, check it out and let me know what you think. It’d mean a lot to me.

A Note from Jose and Miguel, Frías, Argentina

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.”