The 1980s were a challenging decade for coming out, as the news of a “gay cancer” was at its peak. My parents could not understand what AIDS meant. They told me, “They should take all the gays and people who are infected with HIV and drop them on a secluded island.” I was devastated. I left home at a young age, joined the military, got married, and had kids. It didn’t work. I officially came out at age twenty-six to a still very unsupportive family. My parents disowned me. But I realized that if they didn’t accept me, I had to be happy by myself. And I’m okay with that, because I know that I was born this way.
