Dear Minnesota - Víctor M. Macías-González

Víctor M. Macías-González (he/him)

Saint Paul, MN - 2nd Generation - Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas

I come from an old Mexican borderlands families with deep roots in the U.S. southwest in the 17th and 18th c. and moved to Wisconsin/Minnesota region in 2000 to accept a job as Assistant Professor of History one year after a homophobic attack in class (I was then teaching in my hometown university as an adjunct) made me decide to seek and accept an opportunity outside of the Southwest, where I felt I would be unhappy and have to lead a closeted life.

UW-La Crosse was a welcoming place, where I met many other gay faculty and staff, and dated, but did not find a suitable match until I went on a date in April 2007 in Minneapolis, where I met my present husband and my life changed.  After some months dating, we moved in together, and he decided to return to school to get a teaching license. After he graduated, he could not obtain employment in La Crosse because employers were not comfortable with his effeminacy.

We decided to relocate to Saint Paul after he secured employment with a suburban elementary school, in 2012. Two years later, after Minnesota legalized gay marriage, we had a civil ceremony, and the following year, we had a small wedding at Saint Paul's on Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis. Our families came and we had co-workers and friends join us for a small reception. We are happy to live in a state where our relationship is legal and our humanity is acknowledged