September 15, 2023 • 29 mins
At first glance, social media personality Barrett Pall, with his good looks and sculpted physique, fits the mold of the current trend of popular, gay influencers. With literally millions of followers across his YouTube channel, Instagram, and TikTok, he has always been in the public eye from his career as a professional model, starting when he was just a freshman in college. Yes, he is attractive. But after you stop scrolling and really look at his material, you see he is much more than what meets the eye. In addition to his social media presence, he has been a professional life coach for the past eight years, graduating from NYU with a Bachelor of Science in Communication, Culture, and Media, focusing his studies on human interactions, social processes, journalism, and politics. He is certified in Behavioral Change by the American Council of Exercise and has since created his own methodology that incorporates the mind, body, soul, and emotional space. He has traveled to all seven continents, taking part in humanitarian work throughout different sectors in countries like Cambodia, Thailand, and Kenya, and was named an official UN Partner in 2019. He has meshed his social media and life coaching skills to provide messages of acceptance, self-affirmation, and positivity while calling out attacks on inequality or the promotion of misogyny. Though he is the first to admit that he is still discovering himself and coping with life’s obstacles, he has overcome a path laden with bullying, personal demons, and even sexual assault.
In this episode, we chat about Barrett’s growing up, looks vs reality, bullying, coming out, the double-edged sword that is social media, speaking your truth, overcoming life’s obstacles, dealing with haters, his sexual assault recovery, life coaching, looking to the future, and his message to the LGBTQ community. Hosted by Alexander Rodriguez.
You can follow Barrett on Instagram @BarrettPall and check out our in-depth chat with him in the current issue of Metrosource on newsstands or at Metrosource.com
In this episode, we chat about Barrett’s growing up, looks vs reality, bullying, coming out, the double-edged sword that is social media, speaking your truth, overcoming life’s obstacles, dealing with haters, his sexual assault recovery, life coaching, looking to the future, and his message to the LGBTQ community. Hosted by Alexander Rodriguez.
You can follow Barrett on Instagram @BarrettPall and check out our in-depth chat with him in the current issue of Metrosource on newsstands or at Metrosource.com
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Episode Transcript
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(00:05):
This is Metrosource Mini, the officialpodcast to metro Source magazine and home of
short form interviews with your favorite personalitiesfrom the LGBTQ world and beyond. Quick,
fun and informative. It's Metrosource onthe go, out in prown since
nineteen ninety. Welcome to metro SourceMinnis. I'm your host, Alexander Rodriguez,
(00:26):
writer for metro Source and Queen ofthe podcast. At first Glance.
Social media personality Barrett Paul, withhis good looks and sculpted physique, fits
the mold of the current trend ofpopular gay influencers, with literally millions of
followers across his YouTube channel, Instagramat TikTok. He has always been in
the public eye from his career asa professional model, starting when he was
just a freshman in college. Yeshe's attractive, but after you stop scrolling
(00:49):
and really look at his material,you see he is much more than what
meets the eye. In addition tohis social media presence, he has been
a professional life coach for the pasteight years. Graduating from NYU with a
Bachelor of Science and Communication, Cultureand Media, focusing his studies on human
interactions, social processes, journalism,and politics. He has certified in Behavioral
Change from the American Council of Exerciseand has since created his own mythology that
(01:12):
incorporates the mind, body's, soul, and emotional space. He has traveled
to all seven continents, taking partin humanitarian work throughout different sectors in countries
like Cambodia, Thailand, and Kenya, and was named an official UND partner
in twenty nineteen. He has messedhis social media and life coaching skills to
provide messages of acceptance, self affirmation, and positivity while calling out attacks on
(01:34):
equality or the promotion of misogyny.Though he is the first to admit that
he is still discovering himself and copingwith life's obstacles, he has overcome a
path laden with bulling, personal demons, and even sexual assault. In this
episode, we chat about Barrett's growingup looks versus reality, bulling, coming
out, the double edged sword thatis social media, speaking your truth,
(01:56):
overcoming life's obstacles, dealing with haters, life cod look into the future,
and so much more, as wellas a message to the LGBTQ community.
Take a listen, all right,so we kind of know the man you've
become but I want to know whatkind of kid were you growing up?
What about your early childhood has shapedwho you are today. Yeah, so
(02:20):
as a kid, I was verybadly bullied and I did not have any
kind of connection to the way thatI looked. It wasn't something that was
praised. And you know, Iwas very obviously queer without being out because
as a child, I mean,especially in the nineties, it was just
like you were a kid. Butyeah, at school, I was like
(02:43):
the faggot and it wasn't meant tobe nice and it wasn't meant to be
inviting, like that's cool, that'sokay. And so for me, that
really put this deep level of likeempathy into just what it's like to be
a different person, and it's reallywhat has established me to become the person
that I am today, which isthe person that I needed as a as
(03:04):
a kid. My parents were alwaysvery cool with me being me, and
I'm really grateful for that because Iknow that's not everyone's experience. But we
also had a lot of struggles interms of just like financial insecurity. I
experienced homelessness at different parts of mylife, and so will people have gotten
to know me is you know,maybe the adult version of me. The
(03:25):
young me was very insecure, veryscared. I didn't really talk. I
was afraid people were going to likejust be mean and make fun of me
because my voice is what gave meaway. And so yeah, I don't
know. Again, I feel likeI'm rambling now, but that's that's for
me. It was really just beinga different kid. Like I was ostracized.
(03:45):
I was not welcomed into a lotof spaces. The people that were
the most welcoming to me were littlegirls. And you know, my best
friends to this day tend to bewomen because they really gave me that safe
space that a lot of people werewilling to share with me. Well,
I know that you recently shared ajournal entry that you that you read of
yours when you wrote with a kid, which was it was terribly sad.
(04:12):
But when we're looking at what's happeningtowards our community today, you know,
politically, socially, you know,it's it's still going on no matter how
far we advance. What's it liketo to read through those journals and to
know how far you've you've grown.It's really wild to read through those journals
because it's it's so the feelings andthe emotions are so raw and so real
(04:36):
and so right there because it waswritten down on the page. And I've
journaled for as long as I canremember, and I'm really grateful for that.
But being able to go back andread my own words and in some
weird way almost like read them asif there's someone else's is really healing.
And I'm part of what I wantedto do with sharing that entry was letting
(04:58):
just all those young people and maybepeople who we're older as well, know
that like we've always been around,we're always going to be around, and
through a lot of work and consciouseffort, we can heal and find ways
to have things be better. Ithink, you know, there's the campaign
it gets better, and I'm abig proponent of that, and I like
to remind people it doesn't just getbetter. It can be fucking amazing if
(05:20):
you let it be all right,you know, growing up we kind of
come into our own we go throughpuberty. But when did you kind of
first realize that maybe your looks wouldbe playing a big part in your life
and how did that kind of affectyour mindset? My looks were never something
that I was really aware of.And then around I think sixteen, I
(05:42):
went to a junior high and therewas a sister junior high and then we
all met the high school, andso my junior high I was kind of
again like ostracized, not really welcomeinto a lot of spaces. But then
the summer going into tenth grade,I got contacts, my braces came off,
and I got a haircut, andit was kind of like one of
those transformation things, and the sisterschool they were all really friendly to me,
(06:04):
and I was like, Oh,this is nice that these people are
welcoming. And then it was myfreshman year of college when I was sitting
in the back of a cab withmy best friend Bianca and two of our
other friends on the way to likeI don't remember what, and they were
like talking about when we all wenthome to for winter break during the during
college and how they were explaining,you know, our group of friends to
(06:25):
their friends and they're like, you'reour our hot friend. And I was
like, what do you mean,I'm your hot friend? Like it literally
was just something I had never eventhought of, and it was never something
that people had even given me anyinsight into being just something different. And
because of I think the disconnect forso long, I still have a weird
disconnect with it. I talk aboutit. Modeling put another disconnect to it.
(06:49):
So yeah, it's it's a it'sa weird thing. I call this
my avatar. It's I'm gonna havefun with it while I have it,
But I don't want it to belike where all my value comes from.
So let's talk about your modeling.You have been very open about your assault.
The Rolling Stone piece was very eyeopening. It took you a bit
(07:10):
to say something after the assault.What was the biggest contributing factor to you
finally vocalizing your attack? You know, the hardest part for me was just
thinking that that was something that Ihad done, and I blamed myself the
way I think a lot of survivorsdo. And it wasn't something that was
talked about publicly. It wasn't untilthe Me Too movement. And I know
(07:32):
exactly where I was when I hadthe realization that I had to speak up.
But I was sitting in Oprah SuperSoul Sunday Conversations. I went to
it live at the Apollo Theater inNew York, and she was sitting there
talking to Selmahayak, and Selmahiak saidsomething. I just looked at my friend
who had gone there with and Iwas like, this thing happened to me.
I've like alluded to it, butI know if I'm going to continue
(07:54):
to like advocate for others the waythat I do, I need to advocate
for myself. And I think thatthis is important. And I was nervous
to take away space from women whowere finally having their voices heard, but
I just knew that it was likethe right thing to do. And it's
a conversation that's ongoing. How doyou want to go back to talking about
(08:16):
your avatar? And I think that'ssuch a perfect term that you use for
it. How do you maintain yourpersonal identity the person beyond what we see
on social media when a lot ofyour audience tends to focus on your looks,
on your physique. Have you everfelt overshadowed as a person by your
own body and how do you workthrough that? I really appreciate this question.
No one's ever asked me this before, but the answer, quite frankly,
(08:39):
is yes. You know, Idon't want to complain, like I
know that this is a tool,and I constantly say that this is a
tool. It's part of my toolkit. And if it helps people look
at me and then listen to meand then great. But there's definitely been
moments where I have felt like thathas been the main focus and it's been
hard. You know, again,I don't want people to like, oh,
(09:00):
like, whoa, whoa, You'rea victim. It's like no,
Like, I understand that there's privilegewith it, but it's definitely brought a
different set of things that has madesome of my life easier and some of
my life a little bit more difficult. And I again why it's so important
for me to talk about the factthat it's like in Avatar, it's changing.
It's gonna get old, and it'sgonna get wrinkly, and it's gonna
do all these things that all theother bodies do. It's just remind people
that this is not where our mainsource of value should come from. And
(09:22):
with the rise of social media andbeing one of the first kind of like
models on social media, I recognizehow I was used to kind of push
where we're at today, and it'swhy it's so important for me to speak
out because I see so many peoplefalling into the trappings of it. Can
(09:43):
you share any struggles that you've hadwith body issues? You know, body
issues, especially in the gay community, is a very big thing. No
matter what your body is, nomatter if people tell you that you have
the perfect body for yourself, youmay not feel that. So can you
share with us any struggles you've hadwith body issues and your advice for anyone
in our community dealing with those,say of struggles. Absolutely, I mean
(10:07):
I've knitpicked every single part of myself. I growing up, my dad told
me I had a big nose,and that's something that has stayed with me
to this day. I've been toldin castings to my face, you're not
tall enough, you're not attractive enough, you're not muscular enough, because I'm
not. You know, six two, I was told by agents that I
needed to have like an insane body, and so like I at the time,
(10:30):
don't think I would have looked atas unhealthy. But I was exercising
like two and a half hours aday, and I don't think anyone should
be exercising that much. I nevergot to a really dangerous place, and
I'm grateful for that, but Idefinitely look at my career and understand how
I very much have had to workthrough my own issues of body dysmorphia.
And I still look at myself andam probably the meanest. I mean,
(10:52):
right now, I'm struggling with aback injury, and so I can't lift
the weights that I used to beable to lift, and therefore my body
is changing and it's been a realjourney to kind of reset the value in
my body and remember that, likeI now need to really focus on just
like movement, flexibility, being strong. And unfortunately, the queer community can
(11:13):
be one of the meanest communities whenit comes to this stuff. And for
anyone who's struggling through this, Ijust want them to know that, Like
again, I'm going to keep saying, this is your avatar, and it
is your home, and this isthe only one we get, and if
we are not kind to this,we are doing ourselves a disservice because we
should feel the most safe and happyin this home. And we will all
(11:35):
look back in ten years and go, oh, I was young, I
was cute. I should have beennicer to myself then, And I really
take what older people say to meto heart with that and so it's a
struggle. I definitely want to saythat it's a struggle. I work on
it every day. I have toremind myself every day of the wisdom that
has been shared with me. Butif we're not kind to ourselves, it's
(11:56):
going to be that much harder tobelieve when someone else is being kind to
us. And so I really hopeeveryone can find someplace to just be compassionate
and loving to themselves and this thingthat is meant to be just a tool
in our lives to be able todo the things that we love along those
lines of you know, people notuplifting us. Even with all of your
(12:18):
positive work you've done, you know, philanthropy wise, all the positive message
you put out in social media,social media haters are always going to be
haters. You have been the victimof comments and attacks on certain aspects of
your content. How do you dealwith that negativity mentally? And how have
you learned to deal with social mediahaters? Again, that's a process that
(12:41):
I'm still not perfect deck and I'mstill learning. I think one of the
best pieces of advice is that youwill never be able to please everyone.
And if you are trying to pleaseeveryone, You're not saying anything important and
doing anything important. It's wild becauseI am currently right now, in this
moment, processing something that happened twoyears ago. I did an expose on
gay for pay, and now thosepeople are sitting I just got tagnovideo and
(13:05):
sitting in a podcast talking about everythingthat I had called them out for and
basically admitting to it. And Sowhile it's hard to have people, you
know, leave mean comments, leavenasty things, time does reveal all.
And I think the other thing toremember is that if you are looking to
(13:26):
really shift and shape culture, you'regoing to piss people off because there's a
lot of people that are very comfortablewith where they're at in their privilege and
don't want to use it to helpmake the changes that would realistically make their
life better. As well, oneof the other things that I think,
you know a lot of people willsay is just try not to read it
like it's hard, but it's reallynot going to do you any good.
(13:48):
If you sit there and you're readingall of it, and for a two
thousand amazing comments, there's going tobe one that sucks, and that's the
one. You're gonna sit there andget all stressed over and that's not here.
This is this is the line thatI'll leave it with. Other people's
opinion of you is not your problem. That's where I'm leaving it, beautifully,
(14:09):
said Barrett, What would you sayis the biggest mission of all of
your content, all of your contentcombined, whether you know it's Instagram,
TikTok, you know you're life coaching, the stuff on your website, what
do you think that all culminates.What's the mission of you putting all that
out? The mission is what I'veknown since I was very young, and
it's just to make this world alittle bit better than how I came into
(14:30):
it. Like I truly just thisis the thing. Even for the people
who leave me hateful, mean comments, I'm still fighting for their rights.
It's hard when it comes from ourown community. I've talked about this before,
like a lot of gay men havebeen very mean to me, and
I'm like, at the end ofthe day, I'm rooting for you.
I want to see you live yourbest life and be successful and find love
(14:50):
and find peace and find happiness.But yeah, it's really just to leave
this world better than how I cameinto it. I know that we're not
going to get to a place oflike full peace anytime soon. But if
I can help someone else just feela little bit more seen, hurt and
understood and find their way to healing, then I think it's all been worth
it. Very What did you learnmost about yourself from that eight hundred mile
(15:13):
hike? Insane? Right? Thething I learned the most from that is
that I am capable of anything.It's truly a survival experience. And when
you are carrying everything you have onyour back in the desert at like summer
times, we're talking hot. Idid it the year it was a drought.
(15:35):
Five people died on the trail thatyear. Like you're really put to
the test and you have to realize, like, wow, I'm capable.
And after that, anything that comesyour way, you're like, I can
get through this. It's gonna beokay. I love that have it.
Becoming a life coach happened. Whatwas that moment that clicked when you knew
you had to help people in thatway? So I've always loved helping people.
(16:00):
I think it comes because I,again didn't really have help, and
so I remember my mom talking tomy guidance counselor when I was in like
seventh grade, and they talked aboutthis like white night thing, and then
it's you know, there's definitely likea balance of making sure you're not falling
into like a savior complex. ButI got into fitness professionally when I was
(16:22):
kind of in between my first boutof leaving the entertainment industry and figuring out
what I wanted to do next.And I was a trainer at Barry Spoo
Camp. A lot of people don'tknow that, but started there, and
then when the first month, gotmy first client, who ended up being
someone quite well known, and thenI ended up with a bunch of private
clients. And the theme that Ikept finding as I worked with people one
(16:45):
on one is that while they neededto change their body in a way that
made them feel better, what mostpeople are really looking for is just a
safe space to talk through things.And I think, you know, because
of the world we live in,changing our body has you know, tech
and cool results that you can seeand that are measurable. But the thing
that I think most people are lookingfor, especially I don't want to say
(17:07):
especially, but people in general,is really just like a place to find
healing, and as I worked withthese people and was again like just an
outlet. People also say a lotwhen you're telling them to just do stuff
and they can't breathe and they're movingfast and they don't have time to think.
I was like, Okay, Likethis is where I need to move
into and I'm really grateful that thishas been the journey my career has gone
(17:30):
on and it's continuing to evolve,and yeah, I'm excited to see what
happens next. And you've helped peoplefrom all walks of life, corporate figureheads,
royalties, celebrities, people from thequeer community. What would we be
surprised to learn that almost everybody struggleswith no matter how rich they are,
no matter where they come from.Yeah, when people ask me like,
(17:51):
what's the two biggest things, I'mlike, the two biggest things that most
people are struggling through is where theylive, in what they're doing, and
it's it's essentially the biggest part ofour lives. You know, our job
is where we spend majority of ourtime, will spend more time with co
workers than we will with our ownfamily is realistically, and where we live
feels like this thing that we can'tchange, but so many people do have
(18:12):
the ability to maybe find a wayto a different place. The other thing
that I just have been consistently remindedof as I do this work is that
we are far more alike than weare different, and as we get rid
of all kind of like the bullshit, it's so obvious. And I've worked
with some of the wealthiest people inthe world, and I've gotten to do
(18:34):
humanitarian work in some of the poorestplaces in the world, and I will
say that gratitude is for sure thething that brings us back to just like
centered and peace, and a lotof the time the people who have less
tend to be a lot more gratefuland happy because it's not about keeping up
and putting on a show. Andyeah, it's just it's I wish that
(18:57):
we could get to a place wherecould have these two different like worlds really
sit and talk. I just don'tthink we're gonna get there anytime soon.
Sadly, even as a life coach, you know, no one's life is
perfect. What life issues do youcontinue to work through or that continue to
be a challenge? Yeah, Iam very honest and upfront about the fact
(19:19):
that I am still struggling through myown issues of body dysmorphia and processing what
aging is like. Having a careerthat was very public with my avatar really
put that on display, and whetheror not I like it, a large
part of my sense of worth camefrom that. I'm also consistently honest about
(19:40):
the fact that I am struggling withyou know, family stuff, and that
I wish my family was what wesee in social media and on TV.
But I have, you know,a lot of mental health in my family
that has not been able to findthe help that it needs to. And
then the other one is stress andanxiety. I think again, like I
(20:03):
have a big platform, it comeswith a lot of opinions, and I
still, as much as I knowit's not possible, I want to make
as many people as possible feel seen, heard and happy. So disappointing people
is something that just it's I'm notgood at that. I'm not good at
feeling like I'm disappointing people, evenpeople that maybe like should be disappointed.
(20:23):
It still hurts a little bit.So along those lines, how do you
maintain your mental health while pulling outputting out this high level of content that's
been a journey that I've also hadto struggle through and I've made mistakes with
But a big one for me ishaving a really strong community offline. My
best friends, my partner, theyare not people in social media. They
(20:47):
are very quick to call me outwhen things are starting to look a little
stress, when I'm looking a littlebit more tired than normal. Getting into
nature is also really important for me. Again, you know, my eight
hundred mile hike was a hike ofhealing, and I try to get to
the beach and go on hikes asmuch as possible because getting away from your
phone looking at nature, you're remindedof how important our planet is as well.
(21:10):
And without this all the stuff thatwe talk about, it really doesn't
matter. What is the goal ofyours that you have yet to accomplish.
I mean, you've traveled all sevencontinents, you've been very successful in your
career and all the aspects of yourcareer. You completed eight hundred mile hike,
(21:32):
But but what's what's on your goallist? So sure my goal list,
I still would love to, Ithink, buy my own home and
really have roots put down. Wewere evicted from every home I ever grew
up in so there's like a bigsense of insecurity when it comes to that.
So that would just feel something verypowerful and kind of full circle for
(21:52):
me, is like a healing thing. I'm still on my journey of love
and figuring out how to make thatthe atheist and kindest and I have a
fiance who is incredible, but youknow, we're a couple. There's two
people, there's two opinions. Learninghow to compromise more and more is something
that I have as like a biggoal on my bucket list. And then
(22:15):
in terms of professional stuff, Ihave some big things happening right now,
but I would really love to havea book and have that be out there
for people to consume, and thatis in the workings right now, but
it's not there, so it's stillon the bucket list and on the goal
list. I don't know how howdid being seen as your avatar first?
(22:36):
How that how did that affect yourlove and dating and relationships? And you
know, obviously you've now found arelationship where you've found that that element.
But I've heard from many people fromthe modeling world it's so hard to date
because people want to date your avatar, and that's what the value is placed
first on a relationship and has nothingto do about the emotional connection. So
(22:57):
can you share a little bit aboutthat journey? You've opened up a can
of worms aalance. Yeah, youknow, a big way. A lot
of I think gay men found meoriginally was through my social media, and
then at the same time, Ihad a blog, and I talked about
my dating and love life on theblog without ever naming names, without ever
giving specifics. I never really sharedwho my boyfriends were in the past because
(23:21):
I had some weird experiences with thefirst and second one and being like are
you dating me? Are you datinglike the social media Barrett Paul? Are
you dating my avatar? Like whatis this for? And my intuitions were
pretty on And I'm grateful that Iwas able to find where I met today,
and I'm grateful that those people arealso in happy, loving relationships from
what I can tell. But itdefinitely made things hard. I felt like
(23:45):
New York City especially gives you accessand access twenty four seven, and you
know, having a pretty notable socialmedia meant that I was something people wanted
to consume and have, kind oflike a notch on their best and I
would go into a lot of thesedates thinking, oh, maybe I'm going
to meet someone and really like them, And what I quickly learned is a
(24:07):
lot of people just wanted to sleepwith me. And as someone who has
a really big sense of romance andlike love's love, I fell into some
pretty bad experiences with some not wonderfulpeople. Again, I don't really blame
anyone in these situations because I thinkthat they're all on their own journey and
having to heal from certain things becauseas queer people, we've not been given
(24:30):
that safe space to do publicly,let alone privately sometimes. But it definitely
didn't make my love and dating lifeeasy and I had to leave New York.
I traveled the world for four years, I think, looking for home
and looking for love. And myfriends all thought that I was going to
go to Australia and fall in loveand not come back. And I came
(24:51):
back and I you know, everyone'slike, did you fall in love?
And I'm like, I did,But I fell in love with myself.
And that is something that I reallywant to champion and encourage other people,
especially queer people, to remember that, like, while we are all looking
for not all many of us arelooking for love, and that means maybe
a partner or partners. The placethat we have to start with that as
(25:14):
ourselves, because if we don't reallylove ourselves, then we're not going to
understand what healthy kind love is whenit shows up in front of us.
Because I've also turned down some reallywonderful guys in my past and I go,
oh, Barrett, what were youdoing? And it's like it's a
vicious cycle. You know, everyone'schasing and it's this constant, like influx
of new people in these cities.And at the end of the day,
(25:34):
I took two years off during thepandemic to really focus on me. I
gave up drinking and just really wantedto find out like who I wanted to
be, and was very honest andserious on my dating profiles about like looking
for long term, looking for serious, looking for someone who's aligned with these
things. And it scared off alot of people, but I think that
that was much better than having alot of people feel like they had just
(25:56):
access to me. So yeah,it was a why journey so well,
and part of you being a victimof sexual assault, you know, that
taints the way you look at loveand sex, and you know, sex
is a part of any relationship,and when it's foisted on you at such
an early age in such an uglyway, you know, anytime you're physical
with somebody, that's always going tobe there. Absolutely, And something I'm
(26:18):
not really talked about publicly yet andI'm figuring out the right way to do
it. I'm happy to share thisnow, is that I definitely found myself
being slightly promiscuous at one point inmy dating life as a way to kind
of reclaim my sexuality many many times, yeah, because it was introduced into
my life through trauma, and soI thought I was in control and I
was the person you know, likeable to again, the word control is
(26:42):
really important in there. But zoomingback, and I think that this is
a larger conversation for the queer community, especially gay men, is that we
use drinking, sex and drugs asan escape rather than really having to heal.
And it's fun and we glamorize itand it's a movie and TV still
to this day, it's just like, look, it's fun, it's it's
(27:03):
you know. But I hope morepeople start to really think about like what
it's doing to us and what it'sdoing to us in the long term,
and I think that there's a lotof generational trauma in the gay community stemming
even before the apes epidemic that wehave not healed from. All Right,
and closing, what is your messageto the LGBTQ community this Pride season?
(27:27):
My message to the LGBTQA plus communitythis Pride season is that you are valuable,
You are important, you are worthy, you are deserving, you are
loved, and there is nothing wrongwith you. We hear a lot of
people saying really awful things about ourcommunity, but I also want to highlight
that word community. We do betterwhen we are unified, and unfortunately,
(27:49):
there's a lot of people who arelooking to get rid of the tea in
our community, and that's not okay. I can't imagine what transgender people are
going through right now. As aqueer per and who experienced such visceral homophobia
and hate throughout my entire life tothis day, we have to remember what
that's like so that we have theempathy and the fire to stand with our
(28:11):
brothers, sisters, and non binaryfamily members in this fight because it is
a fight, and while we maynever see true equality or peace, we
have to fight so that it doesn'tget worse. Barrett, it has been
such a pleasure to chat with you. So thank you, thank you so
much time together. Thank you,thank you, thank you, thank you.
(28:36):
That has been another episode of MetrosourceMinis. You can follow Barrett on
Instagram at Barrett Paul, two Ours, two ts and two l's, and
check out my in depth chat withhim and the current issue of Metrosource on
newsstands or at metrosource dot com.I've been your host, Alexander Rodriguez.
You can follow me on Instagram atAlexander is on air until next time,
(28:56):
Stay true and do you boom.That has been another Metrosource Mini Like,
share and subscribe on your favorite podcastplayer, and check out the latest issue
of Metrosource Magazine on newstands or onlineat metrosource dot com. Follow us on
Facebook, Instagram at metrosource, andon Twitter at Metrosource mag Until next time, pang pass
This is Metrosource Mini, the officialpodcast to metro Source magazine and home of
short form interviews with your favorite personalitiesfrom the LGBTQ world and beyond. Quick,
fun and informative. It's Metrosource onthe go, out in prown since
nineteen ninety. Welcome to metro SourceMinnis. I'm your host, Alexander Rodriguez,
(00:26):
writer for metro Source and Queen ofthe podcast. At first Glance.
Social media personality Barrett Paul, withhis good looks and sculpted physique, fits
the mold of the current trend ofpopular gay influencers, with literally millions of
followers across his YouTube channel, Instagramat TikTok. He has always been in
the public eye from his career asa professional model, starting when he was
just a freshman in college. Yeshe's attractive, but after you stop scrolling
(00:49):
and really look at his material,you see he is much more than what
meets the eye. In addition tohis social media presence, he has been
a professional life coach for the pasteight years. Graduating from NYU with a
Bachelor of Science and Communication, Cultureand Media, focusing his studies on human
interactions, social processes, journalism,and politics. He has certified in Behavioral
Change from the American Council of Exerciseand has since created his own mythology that
(01:12):
incorporates the mind, body's, soul, and emotional space. He has traveled
to all seven continents, taking partin humanitarian work throughout different sectors in countries
like Cambodia, Thailand, and Kenya, and was named an official UND partner
in twenty nineteen. He has messedhis social media and life coaching skills to
provide messages of acceptance, self affirmation, and positivity while calling out attacks on
(01:34):
equality or the promotion of misogyny.Though he is the first to admit that
he is still discovering himself and copingwith life's obstacles, he has overcome a
path laden with bulling, personal demons, and even sexual assault. In this
episode, we chat about Barrett's growingup looks versus reality, bulling, coming
out, the double edged sword thatis social media, speaking your truth,
(01:56):
overcoming life's obstacles, dealing with haters, life cod look into the future,
and so much more, as wellas a message to the LGBTQ community.
Take a listen, all right,so we kind of know the man you've
become but I want to know whatkind of kid were you growing up?
What about your early childhood has shapedwho you are today. Yeah, so
(02:20):
as a kid, I was verybadly bullied and I did not have any
kind of connection to the way thatI looked. It wasn't something that was
praised. And you know, Iwas very obviously queer without being out because
as a child, I mean,especially in the nineties, it was just
like you were a kid. Butyeah, at school, I was like
(02:43):
the faggot and it wasn't meant tobe nice and it wasn't meant to be
inviting, like that's cool, that'sokay. And so for me, that
really put this deep level of likeempathy into just what it's like to be
a different person, and it's reallywhat has established me to become the person
that I am today, which isthe person that I needed as a as
(03:04):
a kid. My parents were alwaysvery cool with me being me, and
I'm really grateful for that because Iknow that's not everyone's experience. But we
also had a lot of struggles interms of just like financial insecurity. I
experienced homelessness at different parts of mylife, and so will people have gotten
to know me is you know,maybe the adult version of me. The
(03:25):
young me was very insecure, veryscared. I didn't really talk. I
was afraid people were going to likejust be mean and make fun of me
because my voice is what gave meaway. And so yeah, I don't
know. Again, I feel likeI'm rambling now, but that's that's for
me. It was really just beinga different kid. Like I was ostracized.
(03:45):
I was not welcomed into a lotof spaces. The people that were
the most welcoming to me were littlegirls. And you know, my best
friends to this day tend to bewomen because they really gave me that safe
space that a lot of people werewilling to share with me. Well,
I know that you recently shared ajournal entry that you that you read of
yours when you wrote with a kid, which was it was terribly sad.
(04:12):
But when we're looking at what's happeningtowards our community today, you know,
politically, socially, you know,it's it's still going on no matter how
far we advance. What's it liketo to read through those journals and to
know how far you've you've grown.It's really wild to read through those journals
because it's it's so the feelings andthe emotions are so raw and so real
(04:36):
and so right there because it waswritten down on the page. And I've
journaled for as long as I canremember, and I'm really grateful for that.
But being able to go back andread my own words and in some
weird way almost like read them asif there's someone else's is really healing.
And I'm part of what I wantedto do with sharing that entry was letting
(04:58):
just all those young people and maybepeople who we're older as well, know
that like we've always been around,we're always going to be around, and
through a lot of work and consciouseffort, we can heal and find ways
to have things be better. Ithink, you know, there's the campaign
it gets better, and I'm abig proponent of that, and I like
to remind people it doesn't just getbetter. It can be fucking amazing if
(05:20):
you let it be all right,you know, growing up we kind of
come into our own we go throughpuberty. But when did you kind of
first realize that maybe your looks wouldbe playing a big part in your life
and how did that kind of affectyour mindset? My looks were never something
that I was really aware of.And then around I think sixteen, I
(05:42):
went to a junior high and therewas a sister junior high and then we
all met the high school, andso my junior high I was kind of
again like ostracized, not really welcomeinto a lot of spaces. But then
the summer going into tenth grade,I got contacts, my braces came off,
and I got a haircut, andit was kind of like one of
those transformation things, and the sisterschool they were all really friendly to me,
(06:04):
and I was like, Oh,this is nice that these people are
welcoming. And then it was myfreshman year of college when I was sitting
in the back of a cab withmy best friend Bianca and two of our
other friends on the way to likeI don't remember what, and they were
like talking about when we all wenthome to for winter break during the during
college and how they were explaining,you know, our group of friends to
(06:25):
their friends and they're like, you'reour our hot friend. And I was
like, what do you mean,I'm your hot friend? Like it literally
was just something I had never eventhought of, and it was never something
that people had even given me anyinsight into being just something different. And
because of I think the disconnect forso long, I still have a weird
disconnect with it. I talk aboutit. Modeling put another disconnect to it.
(06:49):
So yeah, it's it's a it'sa weird thing. I call this
my avatar. It's I'm gonna havefun with it while I have it,
But I don't want it to belike where all my value comes from.
So let's talk about your modeling.You have been very open about your assault.
The Rolling Stone piece was very eyeopening. It took you a bit
(07:10):
to say something after the assault.What was the biggest contributing factor to you
finally vocalizing your attack? You know, the hardest part for me was just
thinking that that was something that Ihad done, and I blamed myself the
way I think a lot of survivorsdo. And it wasn't something that was
talked about publicly. It wasn't untilthe Me Too movement. And I know
(07:32):
exactly where I was when I hadthe realization that I had to speak up.
But I was sitting in Oprah SuperSoul Sunday Conversations. I went to
it live at the Apollo Theater inNew York, and she was sitting there
talking to Selmahayak, and Selmahiak saidsomething. I just looked at my friend
who had gone there with and Iwas like, this thing happened to me.
I've like alluded to it, butI know if I'm going to continue
(07:54):
to like advocate for others the waythat I do, I need to advocate
for myself. And I think thatthis is important. And I was nervous
to take away space from women whowere finally having their voices heard, but
I just knew that it was likethe right thing to do. And it's
a conversation that's ongoing. How doyou want to go back to talking about
(08:16):
your avatar? And I think that'ssuch a perfect term that you use for
it. How do you maintain yourpersonal identity the person beyond what we see
on social media when a lot ofyour audience tends to focus on your looks,
on your physique. Have you everfelt overshadowed as a person by your
own body and how do you workthrough that? I really appreciate this question.
No one's ever asked me this before, but the answer, quite frankly,
(08:39):
is yes. You know, Idon't want to complain, like I
know that this is a tool,and I constantly say that this is a
tool. It's part of my toolkit. And if it helps people look
at me and then listen to meand then great. But there's definitely been
moments where I have felt like thathas been the main focus and it's been
hard. You know, again,I don't want people to like, oh,
(09:00):
like, whoa, whoa, You'rea victim. It's like no,
Like, I understand that there's privilegewith it, but it's definitely brought a
different set of things that has madesome of my life easier and some of
my life a little bit more difficult. And I again why it's so important
for me to talk about the factthat it's like in Avatar, it's changing.
It's gonna get old, and it'sgonna get wrinkly, and it's gonna
do all these things that all theother bodies do. It's just remind people
that this is not where our mainsource of value should come from. And
(09:22):
with the rise of social media andbeing one of the first kind of like
models on social media, I recognizehow I was used to kind of push
where we're at today, and it'swhy it's so important for me to speak
out because I see so many peoplefalling into the trappings of it. Can
(09:43):
you share any struggles that you've hadwith body issues? You know, body
issues, especially in the gay community, is a very big thing. No
matter what your body is, nomatter if people tell you that you have
the perfect body for yourself, youmay not feel that. So can you
share with us any struggles you've hadwith body issues and your advice for anyone
in our community dealing with those,say of struggles. Absolutely, I mean
(10:07):
I've knitpicked every single part of myself. I growing up, my dad told
me I had a big nose,and that's something that has stayed with me
to this day. I've been toldin castings to my face, you're not
tall enough, you're not attractive enough, you're not muscular enough, because I'm
not. You know, six two, I was told by agents that I
needed to have like an insane body, and so like I at the time,
(10:30):
don't think I would have looked atas unhealthy. But I was exercising
like two and a half hours aday, and I don't think anyone should
be exercising that much. I nevergot to a really dangerous place, and
I'm grateful for that, but Idefinitely look at my career and understand how
I very much have had to workthrough my own issues of body dysmorphia.
And I still look at myself andam probably the meanest. I mean,
(10:52):
right now, I'm struggling with aback injury, and so I can't lift
the weights that I used to beable to lift, and therefore my body
is changing and it's been a realjourney to kind of reset the value in
my body and remember that, likeI now need to really focus on just
like movement, flexibility, being strong. And unfortunately, the queer community can
(11:13):
be one of the meanest communities whenit comes to this stuff. And for
anyone who's struggling through this, Ijust want them to know that, Like
again, I'm going to keep saying, this is your avatar, and it
is your home, and this isthe only one we get, and if
we are not kind to this,we are doing ourselves a disservice because we
should feel the most safe and happyin this home. And we will all
(11:35):
look back in ten years and go, oh, I was young, I
was cute. I should have beennicer to myself then, And I really
take what older people say to meto heart with that and so it's a
struggle. I definitely want to saythat it's a struggle. I work on
it every day. I have toremind myself every day of the wisdom that
has been shared with me. Butif we're not kind to ourselves, it's
(11:56):
going to be that much harder tobelieve when someone else is being kind to
us. And so I really hopeeveryone can find someplace to just be compassionate
and loving to themselves and this thingthat is meant to be just a tool
in our lives to be able todo the things that we love along those
lines of you know, people notuplifting us. Even with all of your
(12:18):
positive work you've done, you know, philanthropy wise, all the positive message
you put out in social media,social media haters are always going to be
haters. You have been the victimof comments and attacks on certain aspects of
your content. How do you dealwith that negativity mentally? And how have
you learned to deal with social mediahaters? Again, that's a process that
(12:41):
I'm still not perfect deck and I'mstill learning. I think one of the
best pieces of advice is that youwill never be able to please everyone.
And if you are trying to pleaseeveryone, You're not saying anything important and
doing anything important. It's wild becauseI am currently right now, in this
moment, processing something that happened twoyears ago. I did an expose on
gay for pay, and now thosepeople are sitting I just got tagnovideo and
(13:05):
sitting in a podcast talking about everythingthat I had called them out for and
basically admitting to it. And Sowhile it's hard to have people, you
know, leave mean comments, leavenasty things, time does reveal all.
And I think the other thing toremember is that if you are looking to
(13:26):
really shift and shape culture, you'regoing to piss people off because there's a
lot of people that are very comfortablewith where they're at in their privilege and
don't want to use it to helpmake the changes that would realistically make their
life better. As well, oneof the other things that I think,
you know a lot of people willsay is just try not to read it
like it's hard, but it's reallynot going to do you any good.
(13:48):
If you sit there and you're readingall of it, and for a two
thousand amazing comments, there's going tobe one that sucks, and that's the
one. You're gonna sit there andget all stressed over and that's not here.
This is this is the line thatI'll leave it with. Other people's
opinion of you is not your problem. That's where I'm leaving it, beautifully,
(14:09):
said Barrett, What would you sayis the biggest mission of all of
your content, all of your contentcombined, whether you know it's Instagram,
TikTok, you know you're life coaching, the stuff on your website, what
do you think that all culminates.What's the mission of you putting all that
out? The mission is what I'veknown since I was very young, and
it's just to make this world alittle bit better than how I came into
(14:30):
it. Like I truly just thisis the thing. Even for the people
who leave me hateful, mean comments, I'm still fighting for their rights.
It's hard when it comes from ourown community. I've talked about this before,
like a lot of gay men havebeen very mean to me, and
I'm like, at the end ofthe day, I'm rooting for you.
I want to see you live yourbest life and be successful and find love
(14:50):
and find peace and find happiness.But yeah, it's really just to leave
this world better than how I cameinto it. I know that we're not
going to get to a place oflike full peace anytime soon. But if
I can help someone else just feela little bit more seen, hurt and
understood and find their way to healing, then I think it's all been worth
it. Very What did you learnmost about yourself from that eight hundred mile
(15:13):
hike? Insane? Right? Thething I learned the most from that is
that I am capable of anything.It's truly a survival experience. And when
you are carrying everything you have onyour back in the desert at like summer
times, we're talking hot. Idid it the year it was a drought.
(15:35):
Five people died on the trail thatyear. Like you're really put to
the test and you have to realize, like, wow, I'm capable.
And after that, anything that comesyour way, you're like, I can
get through this. It's gonna beokay. I love that have it.
Becoming a life coach happened. Whatwas that moment that clicked when you knew
you had to help people in thatway? So I've always loved helping people.
(16:00):
I think it comes because I,again didn't really have help, and
so I remember my mom talking tomy guidance counselor when I was in like
seventh grade, and they talked aboutthis like white night thing, and then
it's you know, there's definitely likea balance of making sure you're not falling
into like a savior complex. ButI got into fitness professionally when I was
(16:22):
kind of in between my first boutof leaving the entertainment industry and figuring out
what I wanted to do next.And I was a trainer at Barry Spoo
Camp. A lot of people don'tknow that, but started there, and
then when the first month, gotmy first client, who ended up being
someone quite well known, and thenI ended up with a bunch of private
clients. And the theme that Ikept finding as I worked with people one
(16:45):
on one is that while they neededto change their body in a way that
made them feel better, what mostpeople are really looking for is just a
safe space to talk through things.And I think, you know, because
of the world we live in,changing our body has you know, tech
and cool results that you can seeand that are measurable. But the thing
that I think most people are lookingfor, especially I don't want to say
(17:07):
especially, but people in general,is really just like a place to find
healing, and as I worked withthese people and was again like just an
outlet. People also say a lotwhen you're telling them to just do stuff
and they can't breathe and they're movingfast and they don't have time to think.
I was like, Okay, Likethis is where I need to move
into and I'm really grateful that thishas been the journey my career has gone
(17:30):
on and it's continuing to evolve,and yeah, I'm excited to see what
happens next. And you've helped peoplefrom all walks of life, corporate figureheads,
royalties, celebrities, people from thequeer community. What would we be
surprised to learn that almost everybody struggleswith no matter how rich they are,
no matter where they come from.Yeah, when people ask me like,
(17:51):
what's the two biggest things, I'mlike, the two biggest things that most
people are struggling through is where theylive, in what they're doing, and
it's it's essentially the biggest part ofour lives. You know, our job
is where we spend majority of ourtime, will spend more time with co
workers than we will with our ownfamily is realistically, and where we live
feels like this thing that we can'tchange, but so many people do have
(18:12):
the ability to maybe find a wayto a different place. The other thing
that I just have been consistently remindedof as I do this work is that
we are far more alike than weare different, and as we get rid
of all kind of like the bullshit, it's so obvious. And I've worked
with some of the wealthiest people inthe world, and I've gotten to do
(18:34):
humanitarian work in some of the poorestplaces in the world, and I will
say that gratitude is for sure thething that brings us back to just like
centered and peace, and a lotof the time the people who have less
tend to be a lot more gratefuland happy because it's not about keeping up
and putting on a show. Andyeah, it's just it's I wish that
(18:57):
we could get to a place wherecould have these two different like worlds really
sit and talk. I just don'tthink we're gonna get there anytime soon.
Sadly, even as a life coach, you know, no one's life is
perfect. What life issues do youcontinue to work through or that continue to
be a challenge? Yeah, Iam very honest and upfront about the fact
(19:19):
that I am still struggling through myown issues of body dysmorphia and processing what
aging is like. Having a careerthat was very public with my avatar really
put that on display, and whetheror not I like it, a large
part of my sense of worth camefrom that. I'm also consistently honest about
(19:40):
the fact that I am struggling withyou know, family stuff, and that
I wish my family was what wesee in social media and on TV.
But I have, you know,a lot of mental health in my family
that has not been able to findthe help that it needs to. And
then the other one is stress andanxiety. I think again, like I
(20:03):
have a big platform, it comeswith a lot of opinions, and I
still, as much as I knowit's not possible, I want to make
as many people as possible feel seen, heard and happy. So disappointing people
is something that just it's I'm notgood at that. I'm not good at
feeling like I'm disappointing people, evenpeople that maybe like should be disappointed.
(20:23):
It still hurts a little bit.So along those lines, how do you
maintain your mental health while pulling outputting out this high level of content that's
been a journey that I've also hadto struggle through and I've made mistakes with
But a big one for me ishaving a really strong community offline. My
best friends, my partner, theyare not people in social media. They
(20:47):
are very quick to call me outwhen things are starting to look a little
stress, when I'm looking a littlebit more tired than normal. Getting into
nature is also really important for me. Again, you know, my eight
hundred mile hike was a hike ofhealing, and I try to get to
the beach and go on hikes asmuch as possible because getting away from your
phone looking at nature, you're remindedof how important our planet is as well.
(21:10):
And without this all the stuff thatwe talk about, it really doesn't
matter. What is the goal ofyours that you have yet to accomplish.
I mean, you've traveled all sevencontinents, you've been very successful in your
career and all the aspects of yourcareer. You completed eight hundred mile hike,
(21:32):
But but what's what's on your goallist? So sure my goal list,
I still would love to, Ithink, buy my own home and
really have roots put down. Wewere evicted from every home I ever grew
up in so there's like a bigsense of insecurity when it comes to that.
So that would just feel something verypowerful and kind of full circle for
(21:52):
me, is like a healing thing. I'm still on my journey of love
and figuring out how to make thatthe atheist and kindest and I have a
fiance who is incredible, but youknow, we're a couple. There's two
people, there's two opinions. Learninghow to compromise more and more is something
that I have as like a biggoal on my bucket list. And then
(22:15):
in terms of professional stuff, Ihave some big things happening right now,
but I would really love to havea book and have that be out there
for people to consume, and thatis in the workings right now, but
it's not there, so it's stillon the bucket list and on the goal
list. I don't know how howdid being seen as your avatar first?
(22:36):
How that how did that affect yourlove and dating and relationships? And you
know, obviously you've now found arelationship where you've found that that element.
But I've heard from many people fromthe modeling world it's so hard to date
because people want to date your avatar, and that's what the value is placed
first on a relationship and has nothingto do about the emotional connection. So
(22:57):
can you share a little bit aboutthat journey? You've opened up a can
of worms aalance. Yeah, youknow, a big way. A lot
of I think gay men found meoriginally was through my social media, and
then at the same time, Ihad a blog, and I talked about
my dating and love life on theblog without ever naming names, without ever
giving specifics. I never really sharedwho my boyfriends were in the past because
(23:21):
I had some weird experiences with thefirst and second one and being like are
you dating me? Are you datinglike the social media Barrett Paul? Are
you dating my avatar? Like whatis this for? And my intuitions were
pretty on And I'm grateful that Iwas able to find where I met today,
and I'm grateful that those people arealso in happy, loving relationships from
what I can tell. But itdefinitely made things hard. I felt like
(23:45):
New York City especially gives you accessand access twenty four seven, and you
know, having a pretty notable socialmedia meant that I was something people wanted
to consume and have, kind oflike a notch on their best and I
would go into a lot of thesedates thinking, oh, maybe I'm going
to meet someone and really like them, And what I quickly learned is a
(24:07):
lot of people just wanted to sleepwith me. And as someone who has
a really big sense of romance andlike love's love, I fell into some
pretty bad experiences with some not wonderfulpeople. Again, I don't really blame
anyone in these situations because I thinkthat they're all on their own journey and
having to heal from certain things becauseas queer people, we've not been given
(24:30):
that safe space to do publicly,let alone privately sometimes. But it definitely
didn't make my love and dating lifeeasy and I had to leave New York.
I traveled the world for four years, I think, looking for home
and looking for love. And myfriends all thought that I was going to
go to Australia and fall in loveand not come back. And I came
(24:51):
back and I you know, everyone'slike, did you fall in love?
And I'm like, I did,But I fell in love with myself.
And that is something that I reallywant to champion and encourage other people,
especially queer people, to remember that, like, while we are all looking
for not all many of us arelooking for love, and that means maybe
a partner or partners. The placethat we have to start with that as
(25:14):
ourselves, because if we don't reallylove ourselves, then we're not going to
understand what healthy kind love is whenit shows up in front of us.
Because I've also turned down some reallywonderful guys in my past and I go,
oh, Barrett, what were youdoing? And it's like it's a
vicious cycle. You know, everyone'schasing and it's this constant, like influx
of new people in these cities.And at the end of the day,
(25:34):
I took two years off during thepandemic to really focus on me. I
gave up drinking and just really wantedto find out like who I wanted to
be, and was very honest andserious on my dating profiles about like looking
for long term, looking for serious, looking for someone who's aligned with these
things. And it scared off alot of people, but I think that
that was much better than having alot of people feel like they had just
(25:56):
access to me. So yeah,it was a why journey so well,
and part of you being a victimof sexual assault, you know, that
taints the way you look at loveand sex, and you know, sex
is a part of any relationship,and when it's foisted on you at such
an early age in such an uglyway, you know, anytime you're physical
with somebody, that's always going tobe there. Absolutely, And something I'm
(26:18):
not really talked about publicly yet andI'm figuring out the right way to do
it. I'm happy to share thisnow, is that I definitely found myself
being slightly promiscuous at one point inmy dating life as a way to kind
of reclaim my sexuality many many times, yeah, because it was introduced into
my life through trauma, and soI thought I was in control and I
was the person you know, likeable to again, the word control is
(26:42):
really important in there. But zoomingback, and I think that this is
a larger conversation for the queer community, especially gay men, is that we
use drinking, sex and drugs asan escape rather than really having to heal.
And it's fun and we glamorize itand it's a movie and TV still
to this day, it's just like, look, it's fun, it's it's
(27:03):
you know. But I hope morepeople start to really think about like what
it's doing to us and what it'sdoing to us in the long term,
and I think that there's a lotof generational trauma in the gay community stemming
even before the apes epidemic that wehave not healed from. All Right,
and closing, what is your messageto the LGBTQ community this Pride season?
(27:27):
My message to the LGBTQA plus communitythis Pride season is that you are valuable,
You are important, you are worthy, you are deserving, you are
loved, and there is nothing wrongwith you. We hear a lot of
people saying really awful things about ourcommunity, but I also want to highlight
that word community. We do betterwhen we are unified, and unfortunately,
(27:49):
there's a lot of people who arelooking to get rid of the tea in
our community, and that's not okay. I can't imagine what transgender people are
going through right now. As aqueer per and who experienced such visceral homophobia
and hate throughout my entire life tothis day, we have to remember what
that's like so that we have theempathy and the fire to stand with our
(28:11):
brothers, sisters, and non binaryfamily members in this fight because it is
a fight, and while we maynever see true equality or peace, we
have to fight so that it doesn'tget worse. Barrett, it has been
such a pleasure to chat with you. So thank you, thank you so
much time together. Thank you,thank you, thank you, thank you.
(28:36):
That has been another episode of MetrosourceMinis. You can follow Barrett on
Instagram at Barrett Paul, two Ours, two ts and two l's, and
check out my in depth chat withhim and the current issue of Metrosource on
newsstands or at metrosource dot com.I've been your host, Alexander Rodriguez.
You can follow me on Instagram atAlexander is on air until next time,
(28:56):
Stay true and do you boom.That has been another Metrosource Mini Like,
share and subscribe on your favorite podcastplayer, and check out the latest issue
of Metrosource Magazine on newstands or onlineat metrosource dot com. Follow us on
Facebook, Instagram at metrosource, andon Twitter at Metrosource mag Until next time, pang pass
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