Homophobia And Suppressing Sexuality

3 min readJul 16, 2021

So lately I have been receiving a lot of homophobic hate on social media and in person. I am 29 years of age (about to be 30, but we aren't counting) and I am finally at a point where I am starting to feel comfortable in my skin & sexuality. My LGBTQ+ family has a long history of being marginalized. We grow up learning ways to come off as “straight” , don’t we love how society taught us to suppress who we are? *Said sarcastically* .

I remember coming out at 19 years of age to my brother and being so nervous, he has always supported me in everything, I am blessed and lucky to have a brother that understands. Then I turned 20 and it was time for me to tell my friends that I was gay, that went surprisingly easy. The year I turned 22, I finally had courage to tell my mom that I was gay. The nerves and anxiety I was feeling was horrible, I cant even explain that feeling that I might be kicked out of my home for loving who I love. I am happy to say that my mom is such a big LGBTQ+ supporter. ❤

But, why do we have to come out? Because people believe in an old fairytale about this non white man but displayed white man ( I can go on about racism in religion, on and on) named Jesus and his ghost of a father called “God”? Why do I have to have anxiety and hide my gayness to make straight people not hate or hit me? Is this what oppression feels like? Society/Homophobic People are the ones that created a divid in Straight vs Gay. We are just trying to love who we love and be who we are. Homophobic and religious views have created the need of “coming out”. I refuse to live by anyones rules but my own!

Now unless “Jesus” comes out of his grave and god shows his face (or their/her face), I don’t want to hear the fucking religious anti-gay talk! With this sexuality suppression, us LGBTQ+ humans are raised to believe that we are different and that society hates/wont accept us. This is so psychologically fucked, do people not realize how this can affect a LGBTQ+ kid and how they can carry this all the way throughout adulthood? The fact that it took me a fucking decade after coming out to finally be comfortable with expressing myself and be AS GAY AS I WANT is wild and heartbreaking.

Now here we are, me strutting in my booty shorts and getting death stares by un-woke/ignorant heterosexual (maybe closeted) men. I am swimming in a thong (finally appreciating my body and fighting my body dysmorphia) and I am getting anti-gay comments and body hate. I wear nail polish and a bodega employee is scared to make my food. I wear makeup in an Uber and get death stares. I wear glitter and have people suck their teeth at me. Oh, I remember that time someone said I must have HIV because I am gay. Or, when someone said I should die from AIDS while driving pass me.

I am so fucking tired of people judging me for my creative expression and sexuality, to all those people, fuck off and go educate yourselves.

To my brothers, sisters, non-binary siblings, I salute you for being so brave and helping inspire me to own my truth and sexuality. Those people that are so scared from our confidence and self acceptance, need to do a lot of internal work. We don’t have it easy but we make it look fucking glamorous and aren't afraid to fight for who we are and who we love. Love you all and thank you for inspiring me ❤. Let’s keep this fight going.

Love, Antonio Liranzo

antonioliranzo.com/links

Homophobia And Suppressing Sexuality

Written by Antonio Liranzo