As a young, gay African American male from a Christian background, Nigel Ashford believed he would have to marry a woman to make his family and God happy. He didn’t think about the potential wife in the scenario: “To be honest I wasn’t thinking about the other person. I hate to say it, but the only thing I was thinking of was ‘how do I make my family and God happy? What do they want me to do? What do I need to do to make sure I’m pleasing them? Through representation and visibility, Nigel saw examples of other gay men living fulfilling lives, and decided he could do that as an out gay man too.