A little over a year ago, Yorgos packed his dreams into a suitcase and embarked on a journey to Vienna, a city he hoped would offer him a fresh start. From the moment he arrived, Vienna challenged him with its distinct culture and language, pushing him towards a deeper understanding of his own identity. It was over a cup of coffee at Café Savoy that I had the opportunity to sit down with him and listen to his thoughts. Yorgos opened up about his journey, shared his thoughts on his search for acceptance, his experiences with sexuality, and the profound importance of visibility and representation.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

My name is Yorgos, or as my friends call me, Gigi. I'm 27 years old and I come from Greece. I studied architecture and I came to Vienna a little more than a year ago for work and in search of a new outlook on life. I spend my time loving, dancing, and getting myself where I want to be.

What does sexuality mean to you, and how has your understanding of it evolved over time?

In my experience, sexuality permeates every part of life and is not only expressed with the people one has sex with, but really with everyone - maybe in a subverse, animalistic way of seeing things, everyone I meet is somehow registered in mind through a sexual filter, along with every other that engages. The main thing I feel like I've learnt in my quest of exploring my sexuality has been to not try to demystify it.

How do you express your sexual desires and preferences, and what factors influence them (e.g., gender, attraction, kink, trauma, etc.)?

I like expressing my sexual desires in the moment, more based on the situation and what feels exciting rather than setting a precedent of what I like and what I don't. Of course when there's deeper stuff to dig into I find it very rewarding to actually talk and share experiences and needs.

How do you navigate the intersectionality of your sexual identity with other aspects of your identity, such as race, class, ability, or religion?

Growing up, my sexual orientation was the only thing that seemingly set me apart, and that it did. The point that was always more influential was how feeling apart because of the lesser common sexual identity in a way enabled me to explore and accept what else is there to be found inside, and the ways I want to express myself.

What challenges have you faced in expressing your sexual desires and needs, and how have you overcome them?

Big subject. I feel like it's always been a precedent that sex is something I have to do a lot of and be really good at. This is something that I’ve consistently tried to get rid of throughout the years, but it's very much a kind of insatiable hunger that can be relieved by a change of perception rather than by feeding the monster.

How do you ensure that your sexual relationships are healthy, consensual, and respectful, and what are your boundaries and communication strategies?

Talking about it all - I love to do that, maybe too much, then it boils down to actually listening.

How do you envision a more inclusive and fulfilling sexual culture that embraces diverse sexual identities and expressions, and how can we work towards it?

Visibility is the answer here for me. As people in their honest and true form are out there, shining and doing their thing, I feel like we're going more and more into the direction that people accept what the world actually is like.