Eduardo | Napa, CA

Growing up, you know, being undocumented and being gay, were like two things that I was like, deep in the closet for. So like, coming out of those two closets was really difficult. coming out as gay to my mother was very difficult. Growing up, she would say, you know, homophobic shit. And so like, to me, that was like, No, you can’t come out. And so growing up, I kind of had that, you know, that fear of coming out and, and being true to myself and confronting that. As well as being undocumented. You know, I don’t need a degree to advance in life. But for sure, like, in high school, you’re being thrown this idea of like “you’re going to need your education”, and that you “need” to go to college if you “want a better future, you want a better job.” And so in high school, I knew that if I if I wanted to get “there,” I needed to come out as undocumented. And so I did.

I think for myself, I learned this along the way of like, I think for myself, i realized my coming out, is in different layers. Like, in the work that I do, realizing that many people have like, multiple layers. And for me, like, being accepting and being open to new identities, and being open to meeting new people has allowed me to create community. I think there’s this idea of LGBTQ community, and yeah, we’re the LGBTQ community, but like, are we really a community? So like, no, we’re not a community. And it’s gonna take, each one of us to make that effort to make that community happen. Whether it’s locally or whether if it’s at the club.

Eduardo, He/Him
Napa, California

Interviewed & Photographed by: louie ortiz-fonseca