Watching movies there is always the couple that gets together for one reason or another but not when the couple is the same gender. Our society frames heterosexuality as the norm and anything that strays from that is abnormal.
My family is supportive. My parents are supportive. My society is not supportive
So when I first fell in love, it was normal for me. She was pretty and we were young. Everyone knows that story. But not everyone knows the story of when I first fell in love with a man.
I was 18 and in my first year of college. He was 26 and in his last year of grad school. We dated for only a short time but I fell for him...hard. It's weird dating someone older and more experienced in this messed up world, especially when you are both male.
I'm afraid to love another man. Not because of what my parents or friends will think. Not because of what my family or his will think. But because I know exactly what my society will think.
I will hold his hand and walk the streets in fear of being yelled at and called names.
F*ggots
Fairies
F*dge-packers
We will be looked down upon as lesser or held as the standard, whether we like it or not. We will be told not to shove our relationship down the throats of children when all we are doing is holding hands and the occasional kiss.
I am afraid to love a man because same gender couples, just by existing, are just enough of a political statement to strike a murderous rage in the hearts of many Americans.
And I don't want to be the reason for another massacre of LGBT+ people.
Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old
Amanda Alvear, 25 years old
Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 years old
Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old
Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old
Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old
Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 years old
Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 years old
Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old
Cory James Connell, 21 years old
Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old
Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old
Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 years old
Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old
Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old
Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 years old
Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old
Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old
Frank Hernandez, 27 years old
Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old
Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 years old
Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old
Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old
Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25 years old
Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old
Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old
Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 years old
Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 years old
Kimberly Morris, 37 years old
Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old
Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 years old
Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 years old
Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old
Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old
Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old
Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old
Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 years old
Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 years old
Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old
Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24 years old
Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old
Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old
Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old
Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 years old
Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37 years old
Luis S. Vielma, 22 years old
Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 years old
Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old
Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old
