"You know, life is short. And if you an alien, you gotta not apologize for being an alien. You gotta join with the universe and just be."

— Dizzee Kipling, The Get Down

Leo
MajorGodOfRarePairs

I. ABOUT ME

My name is Leonel, but I prefer to be called Leo, and I'm the god of rare and non-canon ships. I'm also the only male and non-bisexual admin, thus far. Nice to meet you ;)

> I'm PJO/HOO trash

> Leo Valdez is my baby, but I love all PJO characters, tbh.

> My LGBT icons are MacDoesIt, Tré Malvin and Thomas Sanders.

> I spend my time reading/ writing fanfiction and random books on Watty, scrolling through Tumblr or Pinterest, watching Youtube, watching movies and series nobody knows/ talks about, drawing, pretending I can sing and dance, and of course, sleeping at all the wrong times.

> I have too many PJO ships, but I'll say my OTPs are Fraleo, Leyna and Valdangelo, and my OT3s are Frazeleo and Jasipereo. Yes, all these ships include Leo Valdez (I love him so much).

> I also love 'The Get Down' and Thizzee (Thor x Dizzee) is too cute!

III. WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU WERE LGBT?

Confession Time: My brain has kinda been hinting that I'm not straight since I was in the fifth grade, but I'm so dense, I didn't realize until eighth grade. However, unlike a lot of people, I didn't freak out about it, which is kinda strange since my country is listed as one of the worst countries to be gay in (and sex between men is illegal here). Despite this, I took my time and maybe half a year later, I concluded that I was Panromantic and Demisexual.

I was lucky enough to be around people that didn't care that I was queer (though, to be honest, I could have identified as a pineapple and they'd roll their eyes and agree with me :/), but I'm basically still closeted. My family is made up of homophobic Christians. When I just started questioning, I asked my mother, hypothetically, what she'd do if I came out to her, and she basically said she'd try to talk me out of it, and if I remained adamant, she'd send me on my way as soon as I turned 18 (I'm 17 with no life plan). Even so, I'm not particularly bothered about staying in the closet.

Some advice: Don't stress about your sexuality if you're questioning. There's no hurry, and a lot of people end up changing once they discover new terminology and find out new things about themselves. We're still learning, still growing, and it's okay to be wrong. Do what I did and go with the flow ;)

Also, there's nothing wrong with being closeted, especially when you feel you and your privacy may be threatened. In the end, your sexuality is only a small piece of who you are, and while it's understandable to want to know for yourself, you are under no obligation to tell anybody else. This is about you. Full-stop.

IV. If you could change something about the world, what would it be?

I'm not sure how to answer this, but I'll try.

There are a lot of things humans are ignorant about, and that will probably never change. However, it feels like we're too comfortable in our own little bubbles, rarely batting an eye at other people's struggle. We don't try to understand things that seem foreign to us, and when we try and still don't understand, we write it off as invalid garbage. I am panromantic. I have no clue how an aromantic feels, but that doesn't mean I'll invalidate their sexuality. I know Christians, Muslims, Aethiests and Agnostics that get along with no problem. They all have different views, but they don't crap all over one another.

A lot of people are bigoted because they feel they are right and they are unwilling to change or accept other POVs, no matter what you say. Why? Why are you angry that people don't agree with your views? What is this fear of being incorrect? What is this inability to coexist with people who think differently on a subject? It's ridiculous to me...but I relate to the last part. Sometimes, it's difficult for me to associate with people that have different opinions on things I'm passionate about, mostly because I keep remembering, and it makes me feel dejected, really, but I'm learning.

I'd like for people to be more open-minded. No one just knows everything. You're going to be wrong about something. There are things you'll never understand. And for this reason, you cannot just shut the door in the face of anyone that says nay. You don't have to agree, just listen, and try to understand. Sometimes, you'll learn that you'll have to alter the way you view something in order to do so, and that shouldn't scare you.

Well, that's all for now, Buttercups!

-Precious Leonel