Meet the couple who both emigrated from the Dominican Republic to New York, and even attended the same college, but didn’t meet until their fates finally aligned.

We are Cindy & Bomeilyn. We met on 2014, at a Christian church in NY. After few days talking, we became best friends right away, we had an instant connection since day one.

A year later, for my birthday (Cindy’s) I got a family trip to Disney world & I decided to invite Bomeilyn to go with us. The night before my birthday, we were laying down on the bed, Bomeilyn’s head was on my lap & she fell asleep first. After few minutes, an alarm went on, on Bomeilyn’s phone. She woke up, turned the alarm off, & looking directly into my eyes she whispered “Happy Birthday” & went back to sleep.

Right at that moment, for the first time in my life I felt the need to kiss her. I had never liked before girls & that night I couldn’t stop starring at her. I was very confused. The following morning, I kept asking myself what was going on inside my mind. When we got back home (NY), I distanced myself a little bit while I was figuring out my feelings. Time passed by & I didn’t say a word to anybody. I kept it to myself, decided to ignore my feelings, & act “normal”.

First of all, because we were taught at church that homosexuality was a sin. Secondly, because Bomeilyn had never liked/dated women before (neither did I), so I knew I had no chance. Lastly, because I knew that if I said something, she was going to distance herself. I didn’t want
to ruin our beautiful friendship.

2 years went by like that, loving her in secret…until one day we had an argument. Bomeilyn stopped talking to me & told me she didn’t see me as her best friend anymore. I said to myself “If she doesn’t see me as her best friend anymore, I’ll make her see me as something else.”

I didn’t tell her directly what I was feeling, because like I said I knew I was going to get rejected. Instead, I decided to make her fall in love with me too. I knew the way to her heart, so I started sending her flowers, balloons & planning romantic dates. After 2 months of dates, one day I tried
to kiss her. She freaked out & walked away… I insisted & she ended up kissing me. BEST DAY EVER!

Since we had been taught that homosexuality was a sin, we felt so much guilt. We cried, we went through a self-acceptance process, we prayed for “forgiveness” … We distanced ourselves for a while and kept praying with anger, seeking for answers to why our love was wrong. We felt miserable, for years. 2 years to be exact. 2 years passed by like that until someone spoke to us about God loving us unconditionally & so much more, we felt so relieved. We got the answers we were waiting for, that’s when we decided to live our love freely.

Come back for Part 2 and Cindy and Bomeilyn’s coming out stories.