My father at this time was really all about the bible, so once he found out… he was pretty upset. I mean, my father cried, like, it was something. He would ask me, “Are you sure? Like, do you need to have sex with a girl? Do you need to like, what’s, what are you, what’s wrong with you?
There were times I would wake up to go to school, go downstairs, get my cup of coffee, and I’d look at the kitchen table, and there would be the bible, opened up with some passage for me to read. It was really kind of weird.
It wasn’t until I had moved away from home to go to school, and moved in with a boyfriend, that my father realized that I could be in a normal relationship and be fine and be happy and be taken care of, that [now] my father’s always asking me about who I’m seeing or if I’m seeing someone.
— Fernando, age 24, on the long road to acceptance.