Meet Our Bloggers: Edwin!

Really. Watch Edwin's video.

Hey! My name’s Edwin, a junior English major. I just came back from a semester abroad in Florence, Italy, where I lived with a family that didn’t speak any English and studied Art History with first-hand examples available in the various museums. Writing is my passion, and I love the outdoors, running, traveling and film. Every Thursday night I host a movie night at Schaff, the Queer House, where I live, and many of the movies are queer-themed. You should come!

Other than to a few friends in high school, I came out in my freshman year. I’ve been lucky — no one has rejected me. Even my old friends from high school, a fair number of whom were guys given to making gay jokes and obnoxiously exclaiming “no homo!”, were supportive and even defensive of me to others, putting to rest years of naïve worrying that being gay meant you couldn’t be friends with straight guys.

Telling my family I am gay was the hardest part, I think. The word “gay” itself wouldn’t leave my lips, leaving my mother, whom I told first, guessing at what it was that was bothering me. After speaking with her, I told my sister, whose only concern was that she didn’t know me better, and then my father, who was frustratingly skeptical and confused: “But you don’t act gay...” Luckily, the conversation broadened his definition what being gay meant, and he has since become supportive. My biggest concern was telling my younger brother, whom I knew had friends who called each other homophobic names (just as I once did), and he turned out to be the easiest: “OK,” he said, shrugging before he returned to his video game.

The queer community here at Ursinus College is small, often annoyingly so, but it is growing. I’ve had a great time making friends with students and professors here, and I’m looking forward to seeing what this blog becomes. Keep reading, check out my old It Gets Better video if you feel like it, and feel free to e-mail/ Facebook me anytime!