I grew up in Philadelphia. It's an American city with lots of people from around the world living there. I always knew that I was gay.
I liked to hang out with girls and stayed away from playing sports with the boys. Before I became a teen, my cousin Peter from Thailand came to live with my family in Philadelphia. He was about 16 when he came so he went to high school. My cousin is also gay. He was the first person who was like me...but at the time I didn't realize it. I didn't realize it because my cousin was very feminine at the time. I was not...and I did not think that gay people had to be feminine. I found out that he was gay because one day when he was at school I was in his room looking through his things and found some gay porno magazines. When he came home...i got the courage to talk to him about it and he made every thing more clear to me. "It is ok to be gay" he told me...and with that I never looked back.
I didn't come out to my friends in high school...only after graduation. Most of them knew so it didn't matter. I didn't come out to my family until
I deiced to move to Hanoi. I told my mom. I remember that day because of her reaction to my saying to her that I am gay. She said
"I'm going to hang myself" in Thai! I said to her "No you're not!" and she said to me "Don't tell your dad!" My family has a lot of secrets
that we kept from each other. But the point is...You Are Not Alone. There are others just like you in your city, country,
and the world. Don't be afraid to live your life!
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