I’m From Flemingsburg, KY. When I came out of the closet I was with my girlfriend at the time. We were having a really meaningful and heartfelt conversation about our feelings, our future plans and that sort of stuff. We then got onto the topic of us and I had been wanting to tell her about me for weeks. I thought that this was my chance to finally get it off my chest. To my surprise she says she has something to tell me, and I tell her the same.

I’m From Nueva Ecija, Philippines. Born and raised in the Philippines, I have been here in the US for four years now. I figured out my sexuality in high school, and I knew I had to tell my parents that I am gay to be true not only to myself but to them as well.

I’m 20, and I’ve always put off coming out to my parents. It has been in the back of my head, and last September 23, I just did it. I was driving on I-295, and I told my Mom, “Ma, don’t you ever wonder why I don’t have a girlfriend?” She said, “No. I know.”

I’m From Burtonsville, MD - Featured Artist. Recently I have been rather reflective about the past 4 years to the point where I sat in a cornfield by myself for 30 minutes this weekend while camping. One of the things that I was reflecting on was how I heard a song that made me think of someone that hasn’t been on my mind for about two years. I have this tendency to associate people and events with certain songs and whenever that song is played, that person immediately comes to my mind. Sometimes it’s a good memory, other times it’s a bad memory and my mood immediately changes.

I’m From Houston, TX. Houston was the setting of my childhood, but I spent my teen years in the smallish town of Corsicana where I met my high school sweetheart/girlfriend of 6 years. This story isn’t about how we met or came to be accepted by our friends and family. I wanted to write about how our relationship affected a person who had been non-accepting of gays previous to our collective friendship. Through college my girlfriend and I worked at the local Wal-Mart, befriending a guy whom I’ll call E. He had grown up in an even smaller town outside of Corsicana and, in the beginning, confessed to us that he did have some reservations about gay people in general for the same vague reasons anyone else does.

I’m From Palm Desert, CA. I attended California State University in San Diego, California, during the seventies. At the time it had 35,000 students and was a very liberating environment for a kid from the suburbs. I kept waiting to grow out of the attraction I had for men. But in college, with all the hot men, it only got worse. I had a very negative image of gay life from the media and society. Our school newspaper did a series on gays and it was an educational experience for me. One article mentioned that “most of the gay activity occurs in the Tea Rooms around Balboa Park.” Finally I was going to explore my sexuality and now I had an outlet!

I’m From Turkey - Video Story. My story is about my father. When I was a kid, I was very different than the other kids. I remember they got me–my parents got me–toy trucks and guns. I cried. I wanted to have a brunette doll. So I cried so loud and screamed, so then they had to buy me dolls. And then pretty much at that time, my father and I were okay.

I started elementary school and the whole thing, like, being a girly boy started and then all the kids started making fun of me. And I heard my father kept saying to my mother, “What is wrong with my son? Why is he acting like a girl?”