Honest Steel
A rising star in the Las Angeles corporate architecture has spent twenty years building a life of invisible perfection to survive his family’s "polite bigotry" and keep his career from crumbling. But when he finds a mentor in a Stonewall-era biker, and falls for an unapologetic punk barista he must decide whether to keep reinforcing the walls of his closet or burn the blueprints and build something real.
Set in the specific cultural limbo of 2005—post-AIDS crisis but pre-marriage equality—Honest Steel explores the concept of "Polite Bigotry." It isn't about the villains who shout slurs; it's about the family members who smile, pass the potatoes, and quietly demand you scrub away your identity to make them comfortable. It is a love letter to our found, and chosen, families that catch us when we fall, and the "honest steel" required to stand tall in a world that wants us small.
Benjimen Miller is a 28 year old, rising star in LA's corporate architecture scene. He is meticulous, his work is flawless, but his personal life is a wreck. He's anxious, and vibrating with repressed energy and debilitating fear of embracing his sexuality and being found out. Ben shreds sugar packets to keep from screaming. He has spent his life trying to be "Fine Ben"—the version of himself that doesn't make his family uncomfortable. He moves from being a "walking corpse" terrified of taking up space, to a man who claims his identity, his partner, and his career on his own terms.
Mateo Rivera, is a 24 year old adonis, "living out loud" barista by day, motercycle mechanic/artist by night. With electric blue hair piercings, loud tattoos, and a refusal to code-switch, Mateo is everything Ben fears and craves in the same package. He was kicked out of his religious home in Utah and has built a "chosen family" in LA. He is outwardly confident but not far below the surface, he carries the unhealed wounds of rejection. Mateo loves a project he can focus on, be it a motercycle or a person. He soon learns that Ben isn't just a "project" to save, but a loving, and devoted, partner he can trust. But when Ben's career takes giant leap forward, Meteo has to decide to take a back seat in their relationship to Ben's career or break it off to save himself from the rejection he feels.
Bruce "The Relic" Halloway is "The Mentor." He's a 62 year old rough-edged biker with a history in the Stonewall-era riots and the scars to prove it. He sees through Ben’s "suit" immediately. His philosophical views on life, and living your truth, provides the strenth Ben needs to stop being invisible. He represents the generation that fought for LGBTQ+ rights so Ben could simply exist.