A story of courage that I hope eventually becomes a period piece

Getting beat up, slammed to the ground or thrown against lockers.

Attempting suicide.

Dealing with scorn from fellow students and downright apathy from teachers.

That's just a sampling of what members of Stand Out Youth Inc. have undergone because of their sexual orientation.

snip

Listening to their stories told in sometimes shaking voices, often on the verge of tears, would elicit compassion from even the most homophobic person.

Anyone who thinks sexual orientation is a matter of mere personal choice, not a matter of genetics, just needs to hear one Stand Out Youth teen recount how he struggled for years before accepting he was gay.

If he could have chosen to be straight, he would have. He attempted suicide three times.

snip

Stand Out Youth members can teach us about courage.

Some wear shirts with the group's logo to school and go so far as to stand before classmates and spread the word about the support group.

Member Travis McLain, 20, helped start a gay-straight alliance when he was in high school.

more at http://savannahnow.com/node/379524

I can relate to everything before the last snip. Frankly it would quite well describe my days in middle and high school. I can't say Travis describes me well. That is the difference now. Most of us just took it then. Maybe we felt we deserved it. Maybe we were too scared to fight back. Maybe we just didn't know any better. In a few days I will be forty. I hope when I am 60 there will be no more stories like this to be found. I hope they are as timely as mullets and Miami Vice are now.

and thanks for the rec

In spite of your anti-mullet opinion.

:kick:

That's my story in high school. Because I was gay...I got that same kind of treatment. Harassment and humiliation constantly. And there were times when I wished I were dead.

And I hope that some day there are no more stories like this, also.

I share your wish.