For Angel Morelos Ortiz-Castillo (27) being a queer man in rural west Clare today is not that different from his experience of growing up in Morelia, a city of 750,000 people in western Mexico, especially when it comes to dating. Ortiz-Castillo, a chef, moved from Mexico to Ireland in November 2021.
Ortiz-Castillo said that on dating apps people local to him in Clare often don’t show their face or say much about themselves on their profiles.
“I think people still think that [being gay] is forbidden, or older men particularly are like, ‘I need to be undercover or be discreet,’” Castillo says.
He grew up openly gay in Morelia, and he says “everybody’s eyes were upon myself and my best friend; she’s lesbian. But in fairness it was nice, but we always had to be undercover, doing things not secretly but with discretion.”
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Something Ortiz-Castillo has only experienced as a gay man in Ireland is people assuming that he is only dating to try to secure a European passport. “Many people in Dublin assume that because one is an immigrant and from Mexico that people in my country are just poor or don’t have the opportunities that a European person has. Sometimes I came across people who said nasty things to me.”
He says he has only looked for a partner in Ireland to feel less alone.
The idea to move to Ireland came from one of his university lecturers while he was studying at the Culinary College of Morelia. The lecturer told his class that he had moved to Ireland and that if they ever thought of moving over, to get in touch with him.
During this time Ortiz-Castillo discovered he had a skill for languages. Today he speaks fluent English and Spanish and some French, Irish, Italian and Portuguese.
Ortiz-Castillo was the only member of the class who took the lecturer up on his offer. He had always imagined himself living abroad.
“I decided to move to Dublin to study English. He gave me accommodation as I came to Ireland with very little money.”
He described his first few months in Ireland as frustrating as his English was not good enough for him to express himself in the way he wanted to.
After staying with his old lecturer for a few months, he moved into a place on his own in Dublin.
“Luckily I got this landlord in Dublin that taught me many Irish and English words. He gave me tips like: if you want to improve your English, stop listening to things in Spanish. So I had to suppress the Spanish language for a while and start learning the English language.”
The same landlord secured Ortiz-Castillo a job interview as a chef at the Armada Hotel in Milltown Malbay. “I got the job and they were so lovely to me. I got brilliant accommodation.”
He made friends and found community in the area through his work colleagues.
“I remember one day we had a barbecue in the White Strand near Milton Malbay. It’s such a lovely place in summer.”
He says people in Milltown Malbay are more relaxed and interested in his story and heritage.
“I hang around the pubs and I used to talk to older, mature men, mature women, younger as well. And it was very nice to tell them who I was at the time.”
After eight months in Miltown Malbay he moved back to Dublin, but struggled to make ends meet there. He was paying €1,000 a month for a small square room.
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What ended up pushing him to move back to Mexico in 2023 was that his mother was being targeted by the Mexican mafia because of her pension.
“My mother got targeted because they thought she had money and as she’s a mature woman. I was just worried about her because I already lost my dad.” His father died suddenly of a heart attack when he was 16.
However, with Ortiz-Castillo back in his family home and his brother, a retired soldier from the Mexican army, who sent guards to look after their mother, the mafia backed off.
He was glad to offer his mother emotional support, but he couldn’t find work in Mexico.
“I sent many, many CVs and no one took me. And that kind of broke my heart as well. And I lost my hope in the fact that I could have a life in Mexico. I realised that my life, my professional life, is in Ireland.”
After a few false starts, he decided to reach out to his old boss at the Armada Hotel in the hope they might have some work for him. “He said, Angel, come over. We’ll sort everything out for you.”
Ortiz-Castillo returned to the Armada as a chef de partie on December 2nd last year.
“I love west Clare, it’s like my home. I don’t see myself anywhere else because I love the Irish culture.”
Some of the personnel at the Armada have changed in the years since he last worked there. He is amazed by how open they are. He says they are hopeful that one day the town might have its own gay bar. “Where everybody is welcomed, where everybody can enjoy themselves, just like in Dublin.”
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past 10 years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish
