I'm one of those people who is colour blind to a certain degree. And that doesn't mean I'm not acutely aware of race in our country and abroad and in the world. I know what's going on, and I'm very aware of it.
I do get pissed off when I'm at some gay event, and there's a 25-year-old, and he has no idea who I am. And I say, 'You need to know more about your gay history, boy.' I think the younger generation takes it a little bit for granted.
Unfortunately, a lot people still don't understand queer culture.
If I have no idea how my race shapes me, I am probably not going to be open to any feedback about how your race shapes you.
I was part of a show called 'Manifest Equality' in Los Angeles in 2010, and I realized there was a disconnect between people who are gay or have gay friends and are gay-friendly, and people who think they don't know any gay people.
I am struck by how, walking down the street, I'm rarely made aware of my race, but that among journalists, race is absolutely massive.
The fact that I am Latino is not a secret. There's not much I can do about that. It is what it is. I think people know that my last name ends in a vowel. What can I tell you?
I'm not naive to the fact that I'm an out gay actor.
I do admit that black men love me. I always forget that, and then I come to a black neighborhood and I remember.
My family has always had Cape Verdean pride but I don't think it was something the kids in the family necessarily understood. However, I was very conscious of the fact that both sides of my family were drastically different and my aunts, cousins, and uncles varied in different shades of brown.
To me, self-esteem is not self-love. It is self-acknowledgment, as in recognizing and accepting who you are.
I was aware of my race from a very young age. Not in a negative way. Coming from an interracial background, I think it is important to understand who you are.
For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be. I could only be me.
I personally am not conscious of my accent.
People of color understand what it means to be white more than I ever will.
The amount of attention and sensitivity and education that we're getting in terms of specifically the transgender community is great, and certainly that's new to me. But it's not incredibly unfamiliar. I grew up in downtown New York in the '80s.
I am a lesbian, and it was a later in life recognition of that fact.
I don't feel uncomfortable in America, but every once in a while, I'm reminded that people don't see me the way I see me. It doesn't change my life, but it gives me a consciousness about it.
As someone who is both an ethnic minority and openly gay, I often talk about how simply being who I am has given me a double awareness of the vulnerability that some Americans may be facing.
Im not a celebrity. I dont take myself too seriously. I know where I stand in the food chain. And no matter how much of an insider I ever become or am, Ill still always be an outsider.
