Javier Pagan started his career with the Boston Police Department in 1995 after graduating from Suffolk University in 1993. He is the GLBT Liaison Community Service Officer and a local hero from his feats during the Boston marathon Bombing. He is married to Pedro Velazquez. He talks about his fear of being identified as gay when he was in Puerto Rico even though he always knew he was gay.
Sheryl Scott attended Immaculate Conception High School, the premier all-girls Catholic school in Kingston, Jamaica and St. Barnabas High School in NY. She struggled with her lesbian identity and came out at age thirty, which being in her fifty's, she described her self -acceptance like living all over again. She does social work in New York City, and spends her available time creating art. She shares coming out at a late age which she describes feel like almost living all over again.
Giftson Joseph has been performing since the age of 7 and is studying performance art at Emerson College. He is member of True Colors Out Youth Theater and has performed in an off-Broadway production of Hair. He talks about his insecurities in high school and finding a label that supports his identity.
Jacqueline Mason grew up in a Barbadian household in Boston. Her day-job she a hospital ambassador and the face featured in its campaign. Her night-job as a DJ started over 15 years ago by mixing in her house with an old turntable and cassette player which later she began playing at local house parties, cookouts, corporate functions and becoming the resident DJ for several popular nightclubs in the Boston metro area. She was recently married to her long-term girlfriend. She shares being invisible in Barbados and feeling liberated in the US.
Eva Simone is a self-proclaimed LGBTQ+ activist, performance artist, community organizer, and entertainment connoisseur. Born out of a personal need, she is venturing to become a lingerie designer to cater to unique needs of trans-women like herself offering ease and comfort, confidence, and grace for the expanding definitions of female. She talks about being free in Toronto.
Toyka Lopez grew up in a non-accepting community and family members in Barbados that forced him to seek asylum in Toronto. He has always been supported by his mother, which developed his sense of identity at a young age. Since migrating to Toronto, he began his transition, and his experience has been positive as he finds that his new space does not have an issue with his identification as a trans man.
Olubode Shawn Brown is the facilitator of The Essential Journey. He is a lawyer and a transformational guide. He is the founder of BLOOM, a lifestyle brand that celebrates spirituality, fun, creativity, inclusiveness and community. He shares his experience growing up in Jamaica, and his first time with a boy.
Xavier Brown worked at as a food and beverage server at The Grand Marriott Resort and The Royal Beach in St. Kitts & Nevis before seeking asylum in Toronto. He has dabbled in modeling and fashion and works at the retail shop Frank and Oak. He lives with his Jamaican boyfriend. He talks about what he has gained being in Toronto because he is free to live his gay life openly.
Timothy Nicholas Tate attended Mannings High School and worked in the tourism industry in Jamaica at The Grand Palladium hotel before seeking asylum in Boston, MA. He hopes to be a successful in the managerial field at a respected company and sharing his life a future partner. He shares not having to be fearful of his gay identity living in Boston.
Brian Edwards learned to play several musical instruments at an earlyage. He his performed throughout the Caribbean before being awarded a scholardhip to study music at Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA. He shares his expereince of falling in love with his boyhood best friend, and their growth as adult.
Along with being a drag artist, Joseph Long aka Kitty Sharrod is also an actor and stage manage. He was the host/announcer at the Second Annual Caribbean LGBTQ Pride Festival in Fort Lauderdale and participates regularly in events in his community. He talks about his mother finding out he is gay, her acceptance and fear, and his exploration of drag.
Larry Chang is the first person to come out publicly as gay in Jamaica and the Caribbean in 1978. He is a founding member of J-FLAG (Jamaica's LGBT organization), and previously organized the first gay group in Jamaica, the Gay Freedom Movement (GFM) in 1978. Heistheauthorofnewseveralagespiritualliteratures. HeshareshishistoryandofferssupporttotheLGBTQCaribbeancommunity.
Ricky Martin began his career at age twelve with the all-boy pop group Menudo. He released several Spanish-language solo albums throughout the 1990s. He also acted on stage and on TV in Mexico, becoming a modest star in the country. In early 1999, after releasing several albums in Spanish, released "Livin' la Vida Loca" which helped him obtain enormous success worldwide, and is generally seen as the song that began the Latin pop explosion of 1999, and made the transition easier for other Spanish-speaking artists to move into the English-speaking market.
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