Watching movies there is always the couple that gets together for one reason or another but not when the couple is the same gender. Our society frames heterosexuality as the norm and anything that strays from that is abnormal.

My family is supportive. My parents are supportive. My society is not supportive

So when I first fell in love, it was normal for me. She was pretty and we were young. Everyone knows that story. But not everyone knows the story of when I first fell in love with a man.

I was 18 and in my first year of college. He was 26 and in his last year of grad school. We dated for only a short time but I fell for him...hard. It's weird dating someone older and more experienced in this messed up world, especially when you are both male.

I'm afraid to love another man. Not because of what my parents or friends will think. Not because of what my family or his will think. But because I know exactly what my society will think.

I will hold his hand and walk the streets in fear of being yelled at and called names.

F*ggots

Fairies

F*dge-packers

We will be looked down upon as lesser or held as the standard, whether we like it or not. We will be told not to shove our relationship down the throats of children when all we are doing is holding hands and the occasional kiss.

I am afraid to love a man because same gender couples, just by existing, are just enough of a political statement to strike a murderous rage in the hearts of many Americans.

And I don't want to be the reason for another massacre of LGBT+ people.

Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old

Amanda Alvear, 25 years old

Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 years old

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old

Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old

Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old

Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 years old

Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 years old

Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old

Cory James Connell, 21 years old

Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old

Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old

Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 years old

Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old

Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old

Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 years old

Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old

Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old

Frank Hernandez, 27 years old

Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old

Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 years old

Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old

Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old

Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25 years old

Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old

Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old

Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 years old

Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 years old

Kimberly Morris, 37 years old

Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old

Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 years old

Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 years old

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old

Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old

Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old

Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old

Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 years old

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 years old

Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old

Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24 years old

Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old

Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old

Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old

Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 years old

Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37 years old

Luis S. Vielma, 22 years old

Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 years old

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old

Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old