NEW YORK (AP) — It's been almost a year since Ricky Martin announced to the world he was gay, but among many gay Latinos, a community that has lived in obscurity for fear of harassment or rejection, his message is still making an impact.
"Today I ACCEPT MY HOMOSEXUALITY as a gift that gives me life," Martin wrote last March in an open letter to his fans, after refusing to speak about his sexual orientation for years. "I feel blessed to be who I am!" Photo
"By hiding, he validated millions of closeted gays' that homosexuality is not honorable," Daniel Shoer Roth, a Venezuelan columnist of the Miami Herald who is gay, told The Associated Press recently.
"In the gay community we have always known that Ricky Martin is one of us," he added. "Because he is an idol, Ricky has paved the way so these gays now say, 'If he could do it, so can I.'"
The revelation of the Puerto Rican singer and activist, whose album "Music+Soul+Sex" came out last week, has had positive effects for the Latino gay community and the society in general, according to advocates for the gay, lesbian and transgender community.
The example of Ricky Martin as citizen of the world, humanitarian, father, intelligent person, is a good example for those who have obvious stereotypes and also for those who don't have prejudice but have ideas that may act as barriers in the lives of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT)," said Jarrett Barrios, president of GLAAD (The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)…
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Ricky Martin says he's 'a fortunate homosexual man'
by Alan Duke,
March 29, 2010 – CNN.com
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