Dylan / Belize
“When I started going to school I realized I was different from the other children. I was always staring at the boys and I asked myself every time if it was normal. I never showed any interest in girls and my friends were worried that I become a ‘putito’ as my country called the gay men. They eventually avoided me like a plague when someone from my small village spread a rumor about me having sex with an old man. I was 14 at that time and it hurt me to the core because they were the same friends I grew up with and now they avoided me because of one simple gossip. I eventually got over the pain when I started my freshman year in high school. In my first year I was introduced to the world of social media and decided to sign up in the now popular site Facebook. There, I met countless of people who gave me hope, but I made the mistake of telling someone my sexuality. He would always blacked mailed me with it and I always felled to his wishes because I was afraid. Afraid of what the consequences would be because I lived in a very homophobic country and what would my mom would think of me. After being so tired of him blackmailing me on my secret I made up my mind to come out of the closet. On May 5th, 2014 at the age of 17 years was the day I finally came out on Facebook and I got great and massive support from my own friends on social media and not long after that (two months) I came out to my mom. I was so afraid of what her reaction would be but she accepted me, even though I know she doesn’t like the lifestyle I choose. When the village got word of my sexuality I became known as the ‘village prostitute’ and men constantly came bothering me for sex. It happened almost everyday to the point I got used to it, but I didn’t care because I was happy. Happy, because the chains that were holding me down to be my true self were gone.”
