Now 27, Ákos is a board member of Szimpozion Egyesület: a community-building NGO with a special focus on young LGBT people in Hungary. “It was hard for them to accept,” he said. His grandparents only learned he was gay by seeing him on television during a pride march.
At those times, I also felt closer to God.”Įventually, Ákos moved to Budapest at the age of 19. Sometimes in the countryside, I felt quite alone being gay. In the Bible Jesus often talks about people who aren’t accepted in their societies. “I didn’t feel God didn’t love me actually, it felt like the opposite. “I accepted myself very quickly,” he said. But for Ákos, who accepted at the age of 14 that he was gay, this did not compute. Back then, he said, homosexuality was never discussed: “It would have been strange, like saying you were from Mars.”īoys at his school would drop homophobic slurs, and the local Catholic priest occasionally opined on the “sin” of practising homosexuality. Ákos Modolo grew up in a small town in eastern Hungary, close to the Romanian border. Ákos Modolo was outed to his grandparents after appearing on TV at Budapest Pride Kati Holland
