"I was invited by professor Neil De La Flor to speak with his students about LGBTQ artists and art in Miami. I grew up here and so for me it was a very personal topic. I started at the beginning before discussing my coming out story. I shared my experience of growing up in Brazil until the age of 14 and dealing with the Brazilian youth bully culture before I even knew it to myself what it was like to be a gay man. Once here in Miami, where I went to high school, I was able to create a new life and environment, which opened myself up to different kinds of personalities and visions. It was only during college, however, that I felt comfortable enough coming out to my parents and friends. Besides sharing personal stories, I spoke about my work and my opinion on the gay and queer art scene in Miami, which I believe to be a very small one. This is a topic of interest for me, if anybody has any comments and or would like to share their opinion on the local scene or about queer art in general please leave a comment here." - Yuri Tuma
