"The Truth About Who We Are..."

Jott - Portland, Oregon
by thegaymenproject
photo by Kevin Truong

Jott, in his own words: "Being gay means having a clean slate. I find that extremely liberating. You can have kids if you want. You can be single your whole life if you’d like. You can have two partners at once. You can get married. You can be into show tunes, or gardening, or BDSM, or Palm Springs, or comic books, or Instagram, or drag, or video games, or dogs, or cats, or motorcycles...whatever you’d like.

I think when met with hate, the LGBTQ community finds its voice. Since the election I keep reading about more and more LGBTQ people running for office. It’s our reaction that matters.

(My coming out story is) fairly boring in the best way. My parents already knew I was gay, which I have to say was a relief. When I came out to them it was very anticlimactic.

(The gay community in Portland) can be the best and the absolute worst. Now that I’m older and so much more confident with myself I find it much easier to navigate.

(Advice to my younger self) Stop looking over your shoulder and giving a shit about what other people think."