Ana Lopez
“I am an old 22-year-old girl,” says Lopez, a Colin Higgins Youth Courage Award winner. Outed by a friend at school when she was fourteen, Lopez, now an amateur filmmaker, was forced to make an impossible choice two years later—either leave her parents’ home, or stop dating girls. The West L.A. teen packed her things and lived with her girlfriend while attending the youth support center REACHLA. There, she made her first film, guided by women who encouraged Lopez to examine her sexuality. “That was the first time I saw really strong women,” says Lopez. “I wouldn’t have made it without them.” Technically homeless when she and her girlfriend parted ways, Lopez attempted suicide and battled depression, while her family begged her to come home and change. Her resolve was strong. “I’m not gonna be here if I can’t be who I am,” she says. Lopez, who recently rejoined her family, works to help make ends meet, and though her parents still bristle when she mentions women, “they know about it, but they don’t want to talk about it,” she says, the ultimatum is gone. –MW
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