J.E., Filipino: Bloomfield, NJ, 21

It was only until this summer that I found out what "DOWNE" was. There exists no such thing in the east coast. It's very big over on the west, big is an understatement, i'd say huge. haha.

A friend of mine told me being DOWNE meant being gay or bisexual on the "DOWN LOW" hush hush, dont ask dont tell kinda thing. It's very interesting to go through downelink and see all these guys as DOWNE, I find it fascinating actually.

I guess being DOWNE has a positive connotation to it, in that it doesn't label you right away as GAY. I think being GAY isn't bad, but it's a big step to say "IM GAY". I think saying Im DOWNE is a lot easier, and i also think it eases one's transition into finding oneself, in terms of their sexual orientation. I think in the END, those who are DOWNE are going to turn out GAY, or maybe it's just hyped up to be DOWNE and those who are confused get into the hype becuase they themselves dont know if they are gay or straight. that's how I feel anyways.

To say im DOWNE is kind-of empowering because it's new and exciting and not very well defined, to me it's my own definition of being a gay-straight-bi-ihavenoideawhatiam Asian male.