Foroughi did not just have problems when he was home, but at school. It wasn't just a few comments here and there; he expressed that his sexuality was all that some could see, rather than seeing him for who he was. He says that, "in some aspects, yes I did have troubling moments with little minded young boys who didn't know how to act their age." The bullying that was happening to Foroughi at school caused anger just like it would for anyone who is getting picked on: "a few fights occurred, but only because I had been pushed too far." Foroughi gave an example of one instance that really hurt him when he got "get tested for AIDs stickers on his backpack." He said that "was the last straw." School and home were not the only places that Foroughi felt hurt, angry, and rundown.
The workplace was a place that he felt "for the most part no one was ever really that out of place about my sexuality except for one district manager I had working for Justice." Justice is a place you can buy clothes, for girls. This manger couldn't see past Foroughi being himself and wearing his "fake nails." Foroughi expressed that, "she told me I couldn't wear fake nails to my job because they were a distraction, even though women could wear them." He continues to wear them at his current job, despite her past remarks about them being a "distraction." He wears them confidently and proudly.
He expressed that his love life had dark and faded spots as well. Love had been hard to find, almost as if it had left and gone on vacation. Previous boyfriends were not the best to him and instead left him with nothing more than heartbreak. This area was not a strong one, and it didn't help that "I never really had a male figure to look up to since I knew that my brother and my father resented me for who I was." This led to problems in these relationships. Foroughi has also experienced domestic violence, something that nobody ever wants to go through. He says that "men either cheated, stole money from me, or beat me." He has witnessed and gone through some awful issues, but he eventually found his star in all this darkness, "so my choice in men just wasn't something I was able to provide something substantial until life brought Derrick to me."