I'm From Driftwood
The stories on I’m From Driftwood send a simple but powerful message to LGBTQIA+ people everywhere: You are not alone. I’m From Driftwood combats isolation and creates empathy to build a more understanding and accepting world. These are our stories, told in our own voices.
Latest Gay Men Stories
How A Gay Man’s School Project Helped Mend Relationship With Parents. “They Respected Me. That’s All I Cared About.”
My name is Angel Olvera and I’m from Los Angeles, California. I’m from a very conservative desert part of Los Angeles, about an hour north of downtown. So I grew up in the dese...
Finding Love While Living Through The AIDS Epidemic.
Coming Out To Parents in the 1970s Wasn’t Easy But “Time Heals All.” Every every gay man knows at some point in their childhood, certainly by puberty, that – what their at...
Gay Veteran Reflects On Life In And Out Of The Navy.
1950s: Sailor Spends A Night In Jail After Gay Bar Is Raided. In 1952, I received what we call the SSS, Selected Service System envelope. Every young man who got one of those, of ...
Gay Man’s Journey From Bathhouse Towel Boy To AIDS Activist.
1970: Gay 10-Year-Old Boy Finds Creative Way To Convince Mom To Buy Teen Magazines Well, I grew up in a small town called Randolph, Massachusetts, which is about 15 miles south of...
Gay Pop Star On Coming Out: “I Couldn’t Have Become A Real Artist Until I Learned To Accept Myself.”
My name is Ari Gold and I am from the Bronx. When I was a child, I was obsessed with Annie. I had an Annie doll. I must’ve somehow convinced my parents to get me an Annie doll. B...
Gay Man Comes Out To Friends, Then Family, Then 250 Co-Workers At The Same Time.
Hi. I’m Luis Carlo Parga and I’m from Montreéal, Québec. My grandmother and grandfather moved in from Italy, as did most of my friends, but I was half-Mexican as well. I reme...
How A Christina Aguilera Song Impacted A Gay Teen’s Life.
Hi. My name’s Courtney Walton. I’m from Newark, Delaware. I was a sophomore in high school – this is 2002 – and my family and I were driving back from my cousin’s basketb...
Encountering Homophobia At A Networking Event: “I Wasn’t Going To Let People Devalue Me.”
I am Marc Coleman. I’m from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. About 14 years ago, I started my business in what has become its current incarnation. And as in the course of running a bu...
“I Was Actually Being Honest With Myself For The First Time.” Gay Man Comes Out To Wife And Kids.
My name is Markus Boos and I am from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. I had been married to a woman for 10 years and we had twin boys and a dog. When we first came to Seattle, during th...
“Try To Own The Narrative.” Gay Man’s Long Path To Healing After Statutory Rape By His Mentor.
I’m Ben. I’m from Seattle, Washington. I knew I was gay from about the age of 12 or so and by the time I was 17, I was getting ready to come out. So, there was an AIDS service ...
Teen Daughter Reacts After Dad Comes Out As Drag Queen: “All This Time You Could’ve Been Doing My Makeup?”
I am BeBe Sweetbriar and I am from San Francisco. I was born Kevin Junious and I was born in Sacramento, California and grew up there. Went to college outside of Sacramento and Sto...
Gay Man Meets His Idol, Quentin Crisp: “There’s A Mantle Of Activism That Must Be Passed From Generation To Generation.”
I’m Stephen Mosher. I’m from Dallas, Texas. When I was in college, I met the man that would eventually become my husband and during the first weeks when we’re together, shari...
