Naturalist Kamera |

Hi. For the privacy of my identity I won’t give out my name. I am 26 years old and from a small town in Alaska. I am out to my friends and family as of earlier in 2015. I grew up in a town where I got the vibe it was more on the conservative side and that LGBT topics were not suggested topics of discussion. If I came out in High School or Middle School, I would have been bullied. I came out first to my mom when I was around 21-22 and essentially everyone else in February 2015. I would like to have kids in the future. I’m a really nice person and very sensitive. I care. I struggle for the feeling that I am worthy of love and belonging. It’s been a long battle and it’s no where near being close to finished. I’ve had my bouts of depression over the years. It comes in cycles. I moved to Portland, OR in November 2014 for two primary reasons. The first reason was to find a guy. I work in the wildlife biology field and the jobs are typically in remote areas with a small crew of people. Never met any gay guys working as a wildlife technician in the last 7 years. Technicians also have to find another job every 1-6 months, so I never really had any place to call home, except where my parents live back in Alaska. I really love the work, but my personal life is put on hold when I am doing what I love. So I moved to Portland. It’s the biggest and most risky move I’ve ever done. There is hardly any wildlife jobs in big cities, so as hard as I am looking for jobs, I am essentially putting my career on hold while I am here. The second reason I moved to Portland is because I wanted to try a different field that I’m curious and interested in: the arts. I know, about as far from wildlife biology as you can get. I would rather live my life having tried something that I’ve wanted to try, than to look back 20 years from now and regret that I never took the chance. Since I’ve lived in Portland, I’ve had a lot of firsts, for better or for worse. I’ve met more guys since I moved here than I have ever had. That’s the other reason I chose Portland, it has a fairly good size population of gay guys. Plus Portland is close to nearby family that I have, and I want to stick to the Northwest. This is the beginning of an unpredictable and hopefully rewarding journey.