On this Pride-themed episode of Tell Me About Your Father, photographer Luna Luis Ortiz, also known in the New York ballroom scene as the legendary father of the House of Khan, talks with Matthew about the relationship he had with his Dad, an immigrant from Puerto Rico who withdrew and stopped communicating with him upon hearing of his son’s teenage HIV diagnosis. Ortiz describes the way in which he discovered an alternate family and “gay father” within the houses of the ballrooms, the bittersweet reunion he had with his dad just before his death, and the important way in which his father helped him find his voice despite their decades-long estrangement.

Get full access to Tell Me About Your Father at tellmeaboutyourfather.substack.com/subscribe