Growing up, I felt like the space for being my full self shrank by the day on the journey of discovering myself. When I started having feelings for other boys, it filled me with fear because of the way I saw gay people being treated. Growing up in a small village where the church had a strong position and the sentiment towards LGBTQ was associated with sin and shame, I was forced to suppress a large part of myself. Combined with going through heavy bullying at school from a young age, it drained my personality of color and forced me into a double life. Where I leaned into academic performance and playing “the straight boy role” in search of feeling valued by my family and community. See how moving to the capital at 16 opened up a completely new world for me, where my sexuality could be a part I could explore to help me fully express myself. This all came crashing down when my sister saw me kissing a boy, leading to my parents, church and community pressuring me to fall in line with their perception of shame and sin. I doubled down on living separate lives to please everyone, but my soul started fading once again. Thanks to the support of my new community of peers and supporters, I found strength through building my character, leadership skills and self-worth. This allowed me to stand firm until my parents slowly came around, but it was not until my father faced terminal illness that I felt full acceptance from him. Creating space for my parents to grow to the point where they came to support me during Pride. Nurturing my inner strength into full blossom, where I felt I could live freely and finally merge my two worlds as the colorful Sergio I wanted to be. This is my story.