Yes, I think the mark of a good/great writer is probably the ability to make those issues compelling for people who might not share them. If you can make people feel what it's like to be in that character's shoes and understand their thought processes then whether or not those issues are your own doesn't matter.

I don't know if any of these things would come out in the story with this character, since this would mostly be backstory, but hopefully it will make his interactions with other characters more interesting. Heh--I've been reading the Q&A's with the NA players recently and that really brings it home how important that is. Everything adds that little shade to the character, even if the audience never knows where it comes from.