Brenda R. Rincon: Ending the Secret Lives of Being Both Gay and Undocumented Brenda R. Rincon - New America Media
go to original October 5, 2013

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Juan Ceballos came to the United States so he could live freely as an openly gay man. But the move came with a high cost: he had to take on another secret identity as an undocumented immigrant.

Ceballos was 17 when he entered the United States by foot, a backpack on his shoulders, easily passing through the Tijuana border as an American student.

He quickly realized that, as an undocumented immigrant, it wouldn’t be easy to stay in the United States. And as a gay man, it wouldn’t be easy to go back to Mexico.

Ultimately, his fear of being deported outweighed his fear of being ostracized in Mexico.

“To be here was more difficult,” Ceballos said. “I was afraid.”

After only two months of living as an undocumented immigrant in the United States, Ceballos decided to go back to Mexico.

But he didn’t last long there either.

Read the rest at New America Media

Additional reporting by Alejandra Alarcon. This article was produced as part of New America Media's LGBT immigration reporting fellowship sponsored by the Four Freedoms Fund.

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