The last time you read about Ricky Martin was when we shared the statement he issued against homophobia. On his own terms, today Ricky Martin has “come out” as a gay Puerto Rican man. Let’s just take a moment to remind ourselves that he is identifying as a gay Puerto Rican man at a time when gay Puerto Rican men get murdered for begin gay, Puerto Rican, and male.

He states on his website (Spanish first then English translation):

Que pasara de ahora en adelante? Quien sabe. Solo me puedo enfocar en lo que estoy viviendo ahora. Estos años en silencio y reflexión me han fortalecido y me recordaron que el amor vive dentro de mi, que la aceptación la encuentro en mi interior, y que la verdad solo trae la calma. Hoy para mi el significado de la felicidad toma otra dimensión

Ha sido un proceso muy intenso, angustiante y doloroso pero también liberador. Les juro que cada palabra que están leyendo aquí nace de amor, purificación, fortaleza, aceptación y desprendimiento. Que escribir estas líneas es el acercamiento a mi paz interna, parte vital de mi evolución. Hoy ACEPTO MI HOMOSEXUALIDAD como un regalo que me da la vida. ¡Me siento bendecido de ser quien soy!-

English:
These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn’t even know existed.

What will happen from now on? It doesn’t matter. I can only focus on what’s happening to me in this moment. The word “happiness” takes on a new meaning for me as of today. It has been a very intense process. Every word that I write in this letter is born out of love, acceptance, detachment and real contentment. Writing this is a solid step towards my inner peace and vital part of my evolution.

I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.

Many of the reactions on my twitterstream are “glad” he came out, thoughts of “finally!” and “not surprised.” I have strong beliefs about people “coming out” and it is primarily from my work with youth. I’ve seen how people talk about “coming out” as an amazing process, liberating, a sense of pride and I know this to be true. Yet we often forget, or sometimes too easily judge people who choose, for their own mental/physical safety to not “come out.” We live in a society where people are beaten, murdered, discriminated against, deported, isolated, neglected, and abused because they are anything other than heterosexual.

Do you know how difficult it is to counsel a young person who cannot “come out” because their parents will kick them out, leaving them homeless, without any support systems? The child welfare system, where some youth may end up when they are thrown away, runaway, or in the foster care system, in the US is now realizing that youth do identify as LGBTQI and are working to train staff on understanding the law and the needs of LGBTQI youth.

Whatever your position/perspective, Ricky Martin is a Puerto Rican pop culture icon. I know that MamitaMala y I grew up on Menudo and still have some paraphanallia from those days. He’s a huge part of the Puerto Rican Diaspora for many people our age. He was part of that “Latino Boom” everybody talked about.

What I love about Ricky’s message is that he takes responsibility for his actions and choices in (not) sharing his “truth” until now in a universal way. This is also power. This is also choice. This is something that Iris Ofelia López calls “agency within constraints.” This is a big deal. These are the lives of Puerto Rican and Caribbean men in real time.

I hope that each of us may one day have the opportunity, the safety, and the love surrounding us when we “need to share” something of this magnitude.

And now, a trip back to 1995 with one of my favorite Ricky Martin songs: