"The Truth About Who We Are..."

Eduardo, Architect, New York City
by thegaymenproject
photos by Kevin Truong

Eduardo, in his own words: "Well let’s see how I can put this…

Being gay for me does not necessarily mean that much in terms of who I am. I think it does mean something to others surrounding me, it might make them more comfortable to classify who I am based on hetero-normative and prejudice, on which we have a lot to improve on.

Not too easy to identify what my biggest challenge has been because I try not to look back that much but let’s see…

Getting into grad school, I'm tough on myself and growing up I didn't believe I was smart or capable of a lot. But look at that, I graduated high school, studied architecture and have been a Harvard grad for a couple of years. I don’t talk about it very often but it’s something that I’m very proud of.

The second challenge/success would be telling my siblings that my biological father use to sexually abuse me as a child. I have coped with it but the risk of them not believing was just not an option for a while. Mom is the next, but I'm sure she will believe me, even when it will be unexpected... let’s see how it goes.

I never came out to my Mom, I felt she already knew and did not need clarification. None of my other siblings told her they are straight, why would I then? Mom and I never talked about it but I got a job offer right after grad school and she borough it up because it involved moving to a country where being gay is not accepted. I considered it because it was the only job offer that seemed good at the moment.

I am number three out of four children. I did come out to my siblings via text a bit weird but it just happened naturally. To some extent everyone close to me knew it, it was just a matter of me being more open about it. Thankfully everyone was super cool about it.

The LGBT community in NY is quite a big one, with a lot of influence, respect and a lot of different people, but it does not make it any easier in any way. I do identify with it more here than back home in Puerto Rico.

I would tell my younger self to Believe in himself.
Don’t be scared to express emotions because of what others think. Fuck that."