Tag Archives: pictures of gay men

Matthew, Manager of Operations, Los Angeles

photo by Kevin Truong

Matthew, in his own words:” “Matthew Boger was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Northern California. As a young boy, and having no formal education beyond the 7th grade, he was disowned and thrown out of his family home by his mother, after sharing the news that he was gay.

Forced to live on the streets of West Hollywood. One night at the age of 14 I was brutally beaten and left for dead in an alley by 10-12 skin heads. I never could understand how a kid my age could be hated so much that my life was insignificant to so many.

I am glad I survived and was able to grow up and see another side.

After years of living on the streets of Los Angeles as one of many homeless teens, I came in contact with a compassionate young man who offered me a way off the streets and a home for the first time in 4 years. I worked in fast-food restaurants and retail stores, saving my money to attend a trade beauty school in 1987 where I learned to be a hair colorist specialist.

From 1990 to 2005, I forged a successful career as one of Beverly Hills’ premiere colorists, quickly acquiring a celebrity clientele including Sharon Stone, Liv Tyler, Nicole Kidman, and Michael Douglas.

Horrified and compelled by the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming that was tortured and murdered in 1998, I began volunteering at LA’s Museum of Tolerance, which opened in 1993.

It was a way for me to use my voice to speak out against hate for all those who no longer have a voice.

In early 2005, I made a life-changing decision to leave a high-profile career in the world of celebrities to become the Museum of Tolerance’s Manager of Operations.

It was an easy choice. It seemed to be the right one at this time in my life and with no formal education beyond the 7th grade it was also one of my proudest moments.

It was at the museum that I connected with another inspiring man. A former white Supremist who left the movement and dedicated his life to helping others. A few months into our working side by side we realized we had met before…In an alley in West Hollywood when I was 14 years old. He was one of the ten skinheads who had so brutally beaten me. Today we share a friendship and a program called Hate 2 Hope. My goal is to give a voive to all those who have been silenced so one day this will never happen to another young gay teen or gay man.”

Check out Matthew’s program Hate 2 Hope

Haines, Creative Director, Los Angeles

photo by Kevin Truong

Photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

Haines, in his own words: “Being gay influences all aspects of my life. Desire, curiosity, attraction, interaction, love, humor, passion and for me, creativity. It fuels my recognition that my friends are my family. And affords me a loving patience with my actual family as they comprehend what my being gay means to them.

I think, gays are more sensitive and artistic people because we spent so much of our young life pondering why we are different. “Normal” wasn’t our reality and thus required a deeper understanding.

Whenever conservative’s say “it’s a choice” I always respond (to their surprise) that they are right. It IS a choice. …whether or not to be honest with yourself. That is the main challenge for a gay person. If-and-when we will be honest with ourselves about our ultimate truth. But once we are, the rest is easy. The good people come forward and the lesser people make themselves irrelevant.

(The gay scene) is fine in LA. There are all sorts. I can do without the one’s who are all dolled up on the outside and empty on the inside, but that goes for all people.

I tend to lean towards the east side of town which means the little clubs and cafés in Silverlake and Los Feliz, but there’s something to said for the simple pleasure of meeting friends up in West Hollywood or down at the gay beach affectionately known as “Ginger Rogers” (AKA Will Rogers State Beach).

I always knew i was gay since junior high school, but aside from occasional “recreation” with a couple friends, I didn’t really come out until just after college.

At that time I was living in Newport Beach, CA and devoted to sailing. A handsome guy named Marc came down from LA with some friends of mine to go out on my boat and we all partied into the night.

The wind completely died and we just drifted in the moonlight. I asked if anyone wanted to go swimming but only got one taker. Marc and I jumped off the boat in our boxer shorts and raced each other to a buoy about 50 yards away. We held onto it, laughing and trying to catch our breath without catching each other looking. For a moment, there was total silence and we looked right into each other’s eyes and both just knew.

Right then the friends way over on the boat yelled that the wind had caught the sail and the boat was moving! We had to swim with all our might to catch up to it.

It’s really hard to get hold of a slick, wet hull of a moving boat but I happened to get one finger in the grommet hole of a bumper hanging off the starboard side. The boat pulled me along in its wake as Marc swam up to me. Instead of grabbing my hand, he wrapped both his arms around me and held on as the wake water poured over us like river rocks. We kissed beneath the semi-private curve of the hull and let the boat carry us for as long as my finger in the grommet hole could hold out.

Years later, all my (straight) friends who’d been up on the boat deck that night told us they saw the whole thing, had watched us kiss and didn’t rush us getting back aboard.”

Glauco, Movie Colorist, New York City (Visiting from Rio De Janeiro)

photo by Kevin Truong

Glauco, in his own words: To be honest, (being gay) doesn’t mean anything. To me, being gay is just a personal detail about my self. It alone does not define what I like, what I do or what I am.

When I was younger, being gay was all about discovering the world by yourself, learning to question the society’s truths, and creating my own point of view from life since a young age. I mean, when you grow up hearing that it’s not ok to be what you are, you just can’t stay indifferent.

(With regards to challenges) Being in love! It was always a challenge. Also, making friends, when younger. Nowadays I believe most of the challenges we face are a creation of fear. If we’re not scared, most of these disappear. I truly believe that if you respect yourself and respect others, then people will respect you back. Of course, nothing is that simple, but in cities like Rio and NY, that’s kinda how it goes. I don’t remember having any challenges because of my sexuality in big cities likes these.

(The gay community is Rio De Janeiro is) Hot! Hahaha I mean, “cariocas” (people from rio) really have this “body” culture, so gyms are always crowded, and the beaches too. But beside that, I believe it’s just like any other community. We have all kinds of gay men, Rio just doesn’t have the amount of places to aggregate those men as it should. Most of our bars and nightclubs have the same public, that’s really annoying. There are no cool gay bars to just hang out with friends. The city’s gay life is all about the beach, clubs and parties. At least that’s how I see it.

My (coming out) story happened in three different steps. First I came out to my best friend and a very few great friends. I was 15, and puberty was suffocative. I felt like I would die if I didn’t share my feelings with someone else. They were amazing and we supported each other for a few years.

The second moment was when I got to college. I was 18 and had decided to myself that I would not hide anymore from new people. From the moment I kissed this guy at a college party, a few other friends came out too, and it was an awesome time of my life.

The last step was family, of course. I was 20 and was dating this guy, with whom I ended up spending six years. At the time I had decided not to hide anything from my family. I would stop making up stories about “friends”, and just let things go and see what would happen. After a month with this guy, my mom finally asked me what was happening. I told her we were getting to know each other for a month already. I guess it was not very easy for her at the moment. She was very supportive, but what really got her was that societal prejudice. One of the first things she said was that she was worried that I’d be involved with drugs and being promiscuous. I guess I was already ready for such comments, then I just calmed her down and explained that I was the same person she raised, that being gay would not change who I was. My father was even easier, mom had already told him, he invited me to talk and just said that his love for me would be the same and that he just wanted to see me happy. I can’t complain, my family is really amazing and I love them so much.

A little bit about myself: I love arts. Music runs through my veins, and images can tell me way more than a thousand words, I couldn’t live without it. I believe in the power we have to change things. I believe people should stop hiding, even from themselves. I believe we should care less about other people’s opinions, and care more about how we feel and what we want. I believe that expressing yourself is really one of the greatests ways to respect yourself. “I believe in the power of love”. I believe that gay relationships are no different than man&woman relationships. I believe we should love ourselves more. I believe there’s no wrong place to find love. I believe that, even though it’s hard, sometimes it’s best to just let go of people that are doing you harm, no matter how much you love them. And, most of all, I believe no one have the right to tell me what to be.”