When Crushing Turns to Crushed: LGBT Love Stories Gone Awry

SpeakeasyDC storytellers shared their tales of coming out, college crushes and more

Everyone has a story to tell. But if you think telling personal stories is easy, you might be surprised.

“Stories are so hard to do. It's something you could try to write, but some things have to be performed live,” said Regie Cabico, a SpeakeasyDC storyteller and poet on HBO's Def Poetry Jam.

Cabico shared one of his tales with the audience at Atlas Performing Arts Center on Thursday night, during an evening that focused on love stories in queer culture.

“My roommate is Tom, captain of the Star Trek club, and I have a massive crush on him,” he said. “My crush is so bad that I've hung photos on the white cinderblock wall of Tom and I.”

But Tom, Cabico's college crush, just happened to be straight.

Whoops.

Cabico, and five others including Sandra Faria, told their stories to the crowd at Atlas as part of the third annual INTERSECTIONS: A New America Arts Festival. The festival celebrates the diversity of artists and audiences from the District and beyond.

Some stories took the audience back to the first time they revealed their sexual orientation.

“I had to tell my kids,” said Sandra Faria, an ESL teacher in the District. “We are all trying to figure it out. But I am still a mom.”

Faria is a long-time fan of SpeakeasyDC, but Thursday was her first stage performance. Following a divorce from a diplomat, she's now married to a woman and believes her older kids were "pleasantly surprised.”

Want to get the courage to step up to the stage yourself? SpeakeasyDC offers a five-week intensive storytelling course for people interested in getting their stories out -- whether they're about coming out, or anything else. The next session begins Tuesday, Feb. 28.

See more INTERSECTIONS events here.


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