tamerlanejunior:

Good afternoon, my name is Tamerlane Sanchez, and first and foremost, I’d like to thank the White House for this rare opportunity to share my story to everyone present in the room.

I am here today as a 24 year old gay Vietnamese-Filipino American, representing the AQUA program of the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center in San Francisco, CA. AQUA stands for Asian & Pacific Islanders, Queer & Questioning, under 25, Altogether, and is a program for LGBTQ youth, ages 16-24. Because of AQUA, I am the confident and beautiful young man that I am today, *Hair flip* and I want to share this story with you.

Growing up as a gay youth in a dual-Asian household in a upper-middle class suburban presents many challenges, not to mention all the challenges growing up as a youth. As you can probably tell, although I may not look like your typical “youth” I went through many of the same issues and hardships that queer youth go through everyday that made me question my identity, my existence at many points in my life. One of these issues is the acceptance of my family.

My family means the world to me. I know that I will always have their love and support. But because of the torment and bullying I received in high school, I was made to believe that I was less worthy than the “normal” straight people around me. It was because of this bullying that created a huge sense of fear and doubt in regards to my family being okay with my sexuality. For the first time in my life, I was hiding from my family, something which I hated but felt obligated to do because I was made to believe that being gay wasn’t right. I didn’t want to give my family a reason to not love me.

When I graduated from high school, I went to college and was closeted because of those same fears. It wasn’t until I was introduced to a program called Project 333 that started my growth and journey into loving and accepting myself as a gay young man.

Project 333 was a collaborative project with the Asian American Recovery Services and the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center. Through Project 333 I learned invaluable information in regards to sex and health education, specifically HIV/AIDS and STDs, as well as self awareness and identity. Upon graduating from Project 333, I became a Peer Leader of the AQUA program and have been a Peer Leader now for 4 years.

The confidence that these programs and services gave me allowed me to fully come out to my family. Last year, on a sunny summer day, my dad called me into his office and sat me down. Not knowing the reason, I sat there, smiled, but as these words came out of his mouth, my smile turned into a racing heartbeat and gallons of sweat. “son, are you gay?”

A million things popped into my head as a response to him, but as I looked into his eyes, I knew I had to tell him the truth. I remember everything I learned through Project 333 and AQUA, and with full confidence, I replied, “Yes, Dad, I’m gay.”

I remember there was silence and before I knew it my dad and I were hugging and crying together. What was more powerful, was when my dad took me by the hand walked me unto the kitchen, looked at my mom, and said, “mama, I’d like you to meet our gay son.”

I share this story with you today as a queer youth that was bullied and taunted into believing I was less human which made me question myself and my existence. And because of culturally competent and sensitive programs and services like AQUA, I was able to fully accept myself and live an honest life. I am an adocate and peer leader in my community because of AQUA, teaching my peers about the very things that gave me confidence in regards to sex and health education and self awareness and identity.

I strongly urge that the White House take my story an these other stories into account when funding programs and services like the ones the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center provides. It is needed. For me, for my peers, and for future queer youth. Thank you.

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TJ, thank you for submitting this - Titles of Drama