"The Truth About Who We Are..."

Thatboy Rod, Singer/Songwriter, Cleveland, Mississippi by thegaymenproject

photos by Kevin Truong

Thatboy Rod, in his own words: "What does being gay mean to me?

To me, gay is a way of life. It's not the best life but it's the best for me. I don't see the difference only the correlation between heterosexual and homosexual male or females. I'm happy with who I am and all that I am going to be. Being gay pushed me to do great things, it maks me want to be better than the next person.

What challenges/successes have you had in your life?

A success for me was finishing school. I graduated from the University of West Florida with my BS in Business Administration. Not many people have to motivation to complete school. There are a lot of gays who haven't even given college a thought. I am proud of myself. A challenge that I face is my music career. I have always loved music. I am very talented, and I write my own music as well. The thing I'm afraid of the most is being a failure.

What's the gay community like in Cleveland?

I shouldn't really answer this as I'm not from here and haven't been here that long. Being gay in Cleveland is like being a minority is a different society. If you're African American and gay, you might as well consider yourself JUDGED. The Caucasian gays and African American gays doesn't seem to get along, either one wants sex and the other wants friendship, vice versa.

What's your coming out story?

I haven't really came out, I didn't tell people, they just sorta found out. I don't hide who I am, nor do I put on a fake persona to conceal ME. I'm glad that people did just find out cause if it were up to me to tell them, it would've been bad.

What advice would I give my younger self?

I haven't really done anything that I regret, yes I've made mistakes but those mistakes make me who I am today. If I were to change anything about that then who knows how I would've turned out."

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"Fear Eats the Soul"