Chicagoans is a first-person account from off the beaten track, as told to Anne Ford. This week’s Chicagoan is undocumented immigrant Gilberto Soberanis.
“I realized I was gay around 14, but I had to do everything in my power to hide it. Much later, I realized I had to tell my family. I told my mom in the car. She started crying. Later one of our family members told me that my mom called her and said, ‘I don’t know how he can be gay.’ And the family member told her, ‘You have a gay son, but you have a good gay son. He doesn’t do drugs. He’s a hard worker. He goes to school.’ And my mom said, ‘You’re right.’ I don’t think she had the ability to tell that to my face at that point.
