Jose Antonio Vargas Comes Out Again 

When 12-year-old Jose Antonio Vargas set off from the Philippines' Ninoy Aquino International airport bound for California, he had noidea that two decades later he'd touch off a firestorm that stretched from TheNewYork Times to D.C. to the border of nearlyevery Southern state. That's because earlier this year, Vargas, a PulitzerPrize-winning journalist, came out in the Times -- not as gay (he did that when he was still in highschool) but as an undocumented immigrant.

Coming out as someone who is in the U.S. illegally, thejournalist took legal and social risks. And though the Department of HomelandSecurity says illegal immigration has actually plunged two years in a row,Vargas spoke to the hopes and dreams of about 11 million other immigrants stillhoping to find a path to U.S. citizenship.

"It's been a very heady couple of weeks," Vargas admits.He's flooded with mail from people like himself. "The most emotional I'vegotten ... has been reading these stories. The biggest irony here is, this isAmerica where you can dream as big as you want, right? And the laws are createdin such a way they dampen the dreams, whatever those may be, and there'ssomething incredibly just tragic about it."

The media, Vargas insists, "really has to play a big role"in the immigration conversation. "There was a report from the ImmigrationPolicy Center a couple of weeks ago or so that said something along the linesof 'undocumented immigrants ended up paying $11.2 billion in local andstate taxes last year.' Do you see that figure being cited anywhere? I've beenpaying taxes since I've been working."

His mother sent him to live with his grandparents, bothnaturalized citizens of the U.S., to give him a better life. She told him totell people he was going to Disneyland if they asked, and he never saw heragain. His grandfather forged his Social Security card and Vargas -- who felt hehad to work hard to earn his citizenship -- began to rely on what he calls the "21^st-century underground railroad."

"I could not have made it, I could not have been able to dowhat I did, if it wasn't for my high school principal and my high schoolsuperintendent and my choir teacher," says Vargas of the people who kept his secretand helped him along the way. "And the guy at The Washington Post, one of the senior managers, basically saying, 'Itdoesn't matter that you're undocumented -- the law doesn't make any sense. Keepgoing."

He didn't do what his grandfather wanted, either. Vargassaid he couldn't marry a woman to gain citizenship.

"I think coming out as gay was the truth of my life," hesays. "I wasn't going to live that other lie. That would have been too much forme to handle."

Hiding his immigration status caused Vargas no end to hisworry. After his reporting team won a Pulitzer Prize, the journalist'sgrandmother called, worried that people would now find out. Vargas ran to thebathroom sobbing.

"This where it parallels with being in the closet aboutbeing gay ... there are so many moments, I think, in the past few years that I'vehad to deal with this in which I never felt quite pleasant at the moment. Iwanted so much to enjoy my moment, just winning a part of that prize was areally big deal for me. I really couldn't enjoy it or understand what it wasbecause all I was thinking was, Oh, my God, is it OK that I won this? The moresuccessful I got, the more afraid I got. I actually remember sitting on thatfreaking toilet seat, and just thinking to myself ... Could I be the only personwho's so afraid of their own success? Are they going to take it away?"

That's one reason Vargas came out in the end. "It's going tobe a very tough few months. I don't know what's going to happen. People aregoing to call me names. They've already started doing that. But there'ssomething about living honestly. I feel a sense of relief ... a sense ofindividual freedom, because of that."

Today, the journalist is turning his attention to his new organization DefineAmerican, which is encouraging dialogue about immigrantsand why they come to the U.S.

As police in Alabama refuse to follow the state's newimmigration law and thousands of protesters come out as undocumented onGeorgia's capital steps, it's hard not to see we're on the precipice of somethingbig. "The timing for us couldn't have been more perfect, I think," Vargas says.When his Times essay came out, "itactually became the most shared article on Google that week. Undocumentedimmigrant, which is not really a sexy phrase ... was trending on Twitter for thewhole day. There's been a tipping point."

He's taking a cue from the gay rights movement too.

" I actually think the immigrant rights community has a lotto learn from the LGBT rights community," he says. The tipping point for LGBTrights, he says, came via technology, especially in the wake of Prop 8 losses."A lot of those rallies that were against that happening, happened on Facebook,and were organized on Facebook, and organized on Twitter. Americans reallyleveraging these new tools to tell a story are really going to be important forus."

Vargas says, "We American come out to each other all thetime. It's just a matter of how carefully and respectfully are we reallylistening and watching each other? I think that's what's interesting aboutusing coming out as like a bridge."

Vargas surprised even some of his gay friends by coming out:"They didn't even know that I was undocumented. I was out to them as gay, but Iwas not out to them as undocumented." He says he's taking a lead from JamesBaldwin, a man who was black and gay before either was popular, as he focuses onimmigration issues.

"We have to figure this out. This is not black America orwhite America, this is one America. Illegal immigration is not just aboutundocumented immigrants. Illegal immigration is about all of us. And ifthere's one point that I want to drive home -- there's one point that I thinkelevates the conversation and takes it out of the immigration ghetto that it'sbeen in -- I think it's that."

His hope is that other immigrants -- gay orstraight -- won't have to face the challenges he's had. "I hope here comes a timewhen this is not going to be a barrier to success, and it's not a barrier todreaming as big as you want to dream. You know, after all, this is what this country is about."

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