"The Truth About Who We Are..."

Hoang, Illustrator, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

by thegaymenproject

photos by Kevin Truong

Hoang, in his own words: "People are born in a game of life and gay people are born into 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 myself when I was hearing that it is not ok, that it was to be a freak and unnatural, especiall with 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 thought she is ready for it, and it was a relief for me when her reaction was one of caring: “That’s why I took you to see another gay friend of mine.” That made me more confident to talk about it to other friends. But it didn’t go easily for my mom, she was confused and hasn’t believed it yet, she still think everything has its cure… she believes it is a choice and can fix it. This is gonna be a challenge, still, it is one that I am up to…

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 so sensitive about what other people think and say about gays. I believe that love is fair to everyone and there is no difference.  I believe that being gay is a part of the life that no one can deny. That is a fact and I’m happy to be a part of it."