As a teenager living in Phoenix, Arizona, Jerssay Arredondo felt he had to choose between being undocumented and queer.
Arredondo, who came with his parents to the United States from Mexico when he was 4 years old, said that he felt like coming out would put him at further risk for discrimination when he was already facing the challenge of being undocumented in the U.S.
He remembers thinking: “If I could get my status, if I can get a job … I can come out and live happily as a queer person.”