by Morgan Davis

My name is Morgan Davis. I’m from Austin, Texas.  A year ago, I was an investigator with Child Protective Services. At the time, Governor Abbott, the governor of Texas, askSo I immediately went outside to staff the case with my supervisor. I’m on the phone with my supervisor, “Impeccable, let’s close it.”  “No, unfortu...

by Jeremy Rashad Brown

Hi, I’m Jeremy Rashad Brown. I am from Waxahachie, Texas.    Seventeen years ago, I went to UT where I majored in American studies and music business. And upon graduatAnd so I took a leap. I saw that as my opportunity to go ahead and see what being an artist is in this world, and even more specifically within the city of Austin. I liquidated my...

by João Kiser

I came out when I was 16 and then I joined the military at 21, which was something I did not want to do because of the kind of macho culture that I grew up seeing. And I didn’t I remember the last day, the day before he left because they deployed – you go back really early in the morning. The hardest thing was getting up to go to work and he was li...

by Nina Hernandez

I’m Nina Hernandez and I’m from Austin, Texas. Starting from when I was about six years old, I started noticing that my mom would prefer if I like boys. I remember verBecause I do really value my relationship with my mother, after that incident, I did make another attempt at reconciliation. During this time, I also met and committed to my first...

by Vu Doan

My name is Vu Doan. I am from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Grew up in a very conservative Vietnamese, Buddhist household. So I had girlfriends and was very much focused on school asAnd as the night ended, and I think everyone celebrated the highlight of the night, but I don’t think anyone there knew how much it meant to me because it really sparked int...

by Ann Gillard

A while ago, I moved from Detroit to a lot of other places and eventually ended up in San Francisco. I just basically thought it was a bubble of gay. Everywhere I went, it felt gaAnd she passed me and I passed her, kept on walking. I noticed that my stomach unclenched. I took a breath. I just felt better. I straightened up my shoulders a little bit and I k...

by James Garcia

Hi, my name is James Garcia and I am from New York City.  In 1996, I enlisted in the Air Force. During that time, don’t ask, don’t tell was in place. That means the mI eventually gave the commander of the base at that time a letter disclosing who I am. v The conversation moved to “Well, we’re going to ask you to leave the base now,...

by Samantha

My name is Samantha. I’m from Houston, Texas.  When I was in college, just kind of finishing my degree at University of Texas in Austin, I started dating this guy whom I haI went to France to effectively be a student teacher in Toulouse. It was something I wanted to do, but turned out to be way more difficult than I anticipated. I was living off a r...

by Justin Senense

I’m Justin Senense, and I’m from Abilene, Texas. I was raised under three pillars. I would say for a Filipino family, it was always food, then it was family, and then I think in that moment with Elizabeth, the word anak shifted for me. I recognize I was always that son. And that being gay, loving a man, being something that my parents still had...