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My name is Michael, and I'm From Los Angeles, California. I was in foster care from almost
birth to like, eighteen. Around the time I started having feelings and seeing that I
was attracted to the same sex was when I was around thirteen or twelve. At the time I was
living in a group home, so growing up with a bunch of kids that a lot of them had mental
disabilities or had been abused, and whatever, you know, they had their own prejudices as
it is, and being gay, you didn't get accepted. We had a couple of kids that were out as gay,
and they were treated really badly, so I just kept my *** identity to myself. And faking
that I dated girls, or said I did and just kept it to that. As I turned eighteen and
I got ready to emancipate from the group home, I had freedom. I could go to school by myself,
I could go into the community by myself, so I of course started experimenting with guys.
And I guess my quote-unquote "friends" started noticing a difference. And they would make
jokes with me, saying like, "You're gay," or "You're ***," or, "You're this and that."
And they told me, "Just tell us if you're gay, it's okay." So I told them I was gay,
and my expected response, since they said it was okay, was for them to support me. But
I guess all this time they were joking and they didn't really think I was gay, because
at this point I wasn't flamboyant. I made sure not to do anything that a quote-unquote
"gay man" would do. And my "friends" attitudes changed towards me. They started being rude
to me, making jokes, saying outrageous stuff. How I really came to terms with myself, that
it was okay was I was on Myspace one day--I'm actually afraid to admit this--and this guy
I was talking to, I thought he was trying to hit on me, and I just told him, "You know
what, I'm not really interested in you," but we ended up becoming friends. And so I started
meeting gay people and making friends, and somewhere between that time period I discovered
West Hollywood (laughter). And I just eventually came around and said, "Hey, I'm me. And it's
okay!"