---------------------------------------------------------Kenia Castillo

Proud of who I am today

Everyone faces different challenges in their life. Growing up in a Latino household

means that I faced distinct challenges from my peers. In my culture, talking about one’s sexuality
is seen as taboo, which means that my parents do not like to talk about it and they even avoid the
subject. Therefore, it was extremely difficult for me when my parents found that I am a lesbian.
When they found out, it was not how I wanted it to happen.
I still remember as if it was yesterday that my parents found out about my sexuality. We
were invited to a party which my dad’s friend told my parents I am a lesbian because he was
drunk. My dad’s friend knew about my sexuality because of his daughter. The moment my
parents told me someone told them and not me I felt a lot of anger and frustration inside. I
remember thinking why would anyone decide to tell my parents for me or why they would think
it was their choice to tell them and not mine? Until this day, I do not understand why he decided
to take my opportunity away and tell my parents as if it was his choice.
I just knew I was emotionally hurt by all this. How could have my dad blamed me for
what his friend told him? How was this fault? That’s what I kept thinking to myself but I still felt
as if it was my fault that my parents found out. A month later, I knew it wasn’t my fault and I
was finally able to talk to my dad about this subject.
My dad told me he fully supports me but my mom didn’t support me and she chose to
avoid this subject every time I wanted to talk to her about it. It hurt that I didn’t get my mom’s
support but at least I was able to get support from one of my parent. After a while, everything
seemed to go back to normal. I learned I can be myself. Not everyone will support me but I still
had to go on with life. No matter what happened I became more proud of of who I am. All i
needed was someone to support me.