Dan Marinari is the current Mr Leather Philadelphia
I can remember from an early age feeling attracted to the girls and boys at school, but bisexuality isn’t a narrative that we’re taught as children, so I didn’t know what these feelings meant. I went to Catholic school and still stayed involved in religious social circles after college, so any same sex attractions or gender non-conforming desires I had were suppressed for most of my life. Those feelings stayed quiet for the most part but eventually I couldn’t hold them in anymore. I grew tired of fearing a side of myself that I wanted to get to know. I grew tired of the priest in the confessional pathologizing a part of me that wasn’t something to be ashamed of. I grew tired of hating myself.
In time I realized the hypocrisy of the religious people around me. They often ridiculed and mocked LGBTQ people and this was the opposite of what we had been taught about loving your neighbor. I wanted to be able to live my life as my true self and I knew that their ‘holier than thou’ lifestyle wasn’t going to be part of that. I left the Church and my former friends with a lot of uncertainty, not knowing anyone or anything about the LGBTQ community. The past 5 years have been an amazing journey and I’m incredibly fortunate for how kind people in Philly’s queer community have been to me.
Clean Slate: A Groundbreaking Trans Comedy with Heart
Clean Slate brings humor, heart, and authentic LGBTQ+ representation to the screen. Don’t miss this must-watch comedy on Freevee!