"The Truth About Who We Are..."

Hoang, Illustrator, Ho Chi Minh City by thegaymenproject

photos by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

Hoang, in his own words:"People are born in a game of life and gay people are born in a harder level of the game.

To me, being gay doesn’t mean anything, being yourself is all that matters. Because when you are who you are and what you are, you will know what to do. During my “boy-time” being gay was all about discovering my own questions and learning to defend against hearing that it is not ok, that being gay is to be a freak and unnatural.  This was especially hard for a shy boy like me.

My (coming out) story, it happened a bit late, I always wait for the right moment and it happened when I was 25. First I came out to my close friend, I think she was ready for it, and it was a relief to me when she expressed her caring: “that’s why I took you to see another gay friend of mine”. That made me more confident to talked to other friends. But it didn’t work as easy with my mom, she was confused and hasn’t believed it yet, she still think everything has its cure… she believe it is a choice and that I can somehow fix it. This is gonna be a challenge, it is still is my challenge…

But now with more confident to be who I am and what I am, I care less about people’s opinions and I care more about what I wanna be and how I wanna be. As a gay man I believe we should not be too sensitive about what people think and say about being gay. I believe that love is intended for everyone, there is no difference and I believe being gay is a part of the life that no one can deny. That is a fact and I’m happy to be one with it."

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"Fear Eats the Soul"