Talking about my gay condition, the most important challenge has been the self acceptance. I mean, I felt really so guilty and scared about this. Firstly I even hid to myself my real sexual instincts. So the first challenge was to come up with myself. This process has taken many years but finally I slowly ended feeling so guilty and I began to live my real life.
Well, once I began to feel comfortable with my gay condition, then I did not care much if somebody knew about it. I’ve never talked about this with my parents, friends and relatives. It just happened that slowly everybody realized I was gay. And I’ve never experienced problems with any of them.
The one who surprised me a lot is my father. He never felt comfortable with gays, and I heard him over the years revile gays. Well, one day he came to my place and said “Look son, I just came to say to you that I think everybody has the right to be straight, gay or whatever he wants!” Suddenly I blushed and he hugged me so strong. Tears on our faces and this made me feel so proud of him as a son and as a gay man!
The advice I’d give to the younger myself is: Do not care about the others; opinion, do not care about yours and others sexual orientation. Just care about feelings. Respect everybody and claim for the same respect!”