Current reigning Mr Gay Ireland, Guilherme Souza, speaks as a survivor of abuse about finding the strength within to move forward.

Photo by Francisco Ranieri.

As a gay man growing up in a conservative environment in Brazil, had to face many obstacles throughout my life just like everyone else, but not in quite the same way. Being an LGBT+ person makes our lives already harder, more complicated and lonelier. We are constantly facing the misunderstanding of our parents, our siblings, people around us who do not understand or do not know why we are the way we are. But it was only when was in Ireland, far from my home, from my family, friends and everything that was familiar to me that realised had an issue that needed to deal with.

At the start, had to prioritise other things, like learning a new language, getting a job and living this new experience, so put my issue back into a ‘box’ for a little longer.

After living here for a while and building a base of trustworthy and loving people around me, started to feel the need to share with someone what had happened to me when was a child in order to finally open that box. This decision was the first step of something that would change both mine and my relatives’ lives completely.