In the 1990s, more and more gay teenagers are g out of the closet. A natnwi report on their stggle for acceptance.
Contents:
- GAY KIDS COMG OUT YOUNGER, BUT PARENTS ASK "HOW DO YOU KNOW?"
- TO BE YOUNG & GAY
- A GAY TEEN DISVERS HIMSELF AT SUMMER MP THIS FLAMER FIRST LOOK
- THE DIGAL SEX LIV OF YOUNG GAY TEENAGERS
- IS MY SON GAY OR IS A PHASE?
- LONDON FOR A 15 YEAR OLD GAY TEEN? - LGBTQIA+ TRAVEL FOM
- MY 15YO HAS JT TOLD ME SHE'S GAY - HOW DO I HANDLE THIS? AND OTHER PARENTG QUTNS ANSWERED
- A 16-YEAR-OLD WENT TO A GAY BAR WH A FAKE I.D. AND THGS COULD’VE END TERRIBLY IF NOT FOR THIS DRAG QUEEN
- A GAY TEEN DISVERS HIMSELF AT SUMMER MP THIS FLAMER FIRST LOOK
- MY 15YO HAS JT TOLD ME SHE'S GAY - HOW DO I HANDLE THIS? AND OTHER PARENTG QUTNS ANSWERED
GAY KIDS COMG OUT YOUNGER, BUT PARENTS ASK "HOW DO YOU KNOW?"
Gay kids are g out earlier — sometim middle school — and many are fdg acceptance. But some parents and teachers wonr if the kids are too young to really know their sexual orientatn. * gay 15yo *
Gay kids are g out earlier — sometim middle school — and many are fdg acceptance. Enuraggly, beg young and openly gay seems to be gettg easier.
TO BE YOUNG & GAY
* gay 15yo *
Denizet-Lewis wr that when he started workg for the gay men's magaze XY 1998, "we received dozens of letters each week om teenagers the pths of spair. " Three years later, he says, "a new kd of gay adolcent was appearg on the page - proud, rilient, sometim even happy.
" He explas, That's not to say that gay teenagers didn't still suffer harassment at school or rejectn at home, but many seemed ls burned wh shame and self-loathg than their olr gay peers.
Not only were there creasgly accurate and posive portrayals of gays and lbians popular culture, but most teenagers were by then regular Inter ers. Gog onle broke through the isolatn that had been a hallmark of beg young and gay, and allowed gay teenagers to fd rmatn to refute what their fai or church sometim still told them - namely, that they would never fd happs and to the Inter and to creasg cultural acceptance of homosexualy (an crease marred, we should note, by measur like Proposn 8), kids who might once have waed until high school or even llege to e out are now dog so earlier.
A GAY TEEN DISVERS HIMSELF AT SUMMER MP THIS FLAMER FIRST LOOK
Adolcence n be a ighteng perd for young gay men, who are sudnly faced wh new sexual feelgs that n often nflict wh social prsur placed on them by fay, iends, and the media. Mike Curato explor this tumultuo perd his new Godw Books graphic novel, Flamer, a semi-tobgraphil… * gay 15yo *
At least 120 middle schools the untry have gay-straight alliance groups, and others let stunts observe the natnal Day of Silence prott agast anti-gay harassment.
" They were not, however, silent: "Good luck gettg middle-schoolers not to talk, " the school unselor youth of the Webster kids and other gay middle-schoolers is a sign of how far gay rights have e — but 's also the kids' biggt obstacle to acceptance. A tellg anecdote om Nadia, the mom of a gay 15-year-old named At.
THE DIGAL SEX LIV OF YOUNG GAY TEENAGERS
What to do when your son tells you he's gay. * gay 15yo *
" But she had actually asked At if he was gay when she found out he had lled a gay chat le. The irony of a parent spectg her kid is gay and then refg to believe he uld know his own orientatn highlights how much more difficulty some parents have wh burgeong gay sexualy than they would wh a straight kid's of this may have to do wh the misnceptn that you have to have gay terurse to be gay, or that homosexualy is somehow a more "sexual" orientatn than heterosexualy. 'Eileen Ross, director of a Mounta View, CA program for gay youth, says that when a 12-year-old boy says he lik girls, "No one says to them: 'Are you sure?
A lawyer Florida argued that gay-straight allianc promote the "premature sexualizatn of the stunts, " and when At started a gay-straight alliance, his Michigan school ma him ll somethg "ls ntroversial" (he chose "Peace Alliance"). Denizet-Lewis reports the hopeful words of velopmental psychologist Rch Sav-Williams: "This is the first generatn of gay kids who have the great joy of beg able to argue wh their parents about datg, jt like their straight peers do. And maybe today's gay kids are slowly startg to receive via New York Tim Out In Middle School [NYT Magaze].
IS MY SON GAY OR IS A PHASE?
Ten upliftg and powerful tal reunt the liv of everyday hero wh no special powers except strivg for their own inti whether they are gay, bi or transgenr, fightg for the right to be themselv. * gay 15yo *
To Be Young & Gay. Greg Whg, a fifteen-year-old wh red curly hair and blue fgernails, has e out as gay three tim: once to his parents, once to his school and once to a natnal televisn dience on 48 Hours.
LONDON FOR A 15 YEAR OLD GAY TEEN? - LGBTQIA+ TRAVEL FOM
BEFORE COMMENTING READ THISABOUT ABE!! Abe posted his origal vio on July 7, 2009. This box last updated Feb 2013 KIDS: I don't know Abe and nnot put you touch wh him; if you are lookg to meet other kids there is a se that is pretty safe, lled the Queer Youth Communy, Open to 13-21 but the foms are open to kids as young as 11. But wh ANY se please e re! DON"T BOTHER POSTING IF YOU WANT TO SAY: - Gay is sful - Gay is a choice - He is sick - ‘faggot’ or siar ments - He is too young to know he is gay - Make ments not appropriate to a chld of 12 ======== FOR EVERYONE: Frequently Anticipated Qutns: How n I ntact him? – Origally on YouTube he is no longer there. I nnot lk you to him, ntact him, etc. I never had any DIRECT ntact wh him but he has given permissn for this to appear by passg a msage through a third party. He fely do not want people to ntact him. Please accept the gift of this vio om him and leave him be. If I gave his ntact the poor guy would have 50,000 people msagg him at least. Oh and I am pretty sure he says "I jt like the avert to the girls." I thk he means "avert" [uh-vurt] verb (ed wh object) to turn away or anyway... a·vert asi: to avert one's ey. In this vio Abe is a cute kid, if you want to say that you n. Abe might seem sexy to you, but if you go beyond a general nocuo ment of that type I'm likely to block you. I make no judgments, if he's your cup of tea, if you'd like to sweep him off his feet, marry him, whatever, I don't re but DO NOT post your feelgs here!! Now if you are 11 or 12 and want to say he's hot, I n live wh that. I do not have that kd of channel and I don't want to have that kd of channel. I rpect gay kids and teens, and for that matter, men, women, and straight youth. Abe do not portray himself a sexualized way, and you should not e this blog to treat him as a sexualized adult/adolcent. Are we clear? Are we crystal clear? Is he really gay? --DId you watch?? Of COURSE he is! Y he STILL is. Isn't this jt a phase he's gog th? No. En Oh. He lik guys always he wanted to have a bf 4th gra. Would you ask that of a 12 yo boy who said he lik girls? NO, EN OH, NO! Oh his brac are off now * gay 15yo *
Every gay teenager I speak wh has one: For many of them, g out was the most charged few hours of their liv, the moment the theoretil part of homosexualy end, when beg gay was no longer somethg over there, was you. ” This is a distctn I hear often om gay teens: The world is spl not to gay and straight but to open and closed. About a month after Tara told her mother she was gay, the Catholic school that Tara attend lled her parents and explaed that they weren’t fortable havg a lbian nth-grar their stutn.
MY 15YO HAS JT TOLD ME SHE'S GAY - HOW DO I HANDLE THIS? AND OTHER PARENTG QUTNS ANSWERED
Adolcence n be a ighteng perd for young gay men, who are sudnly faced wh new sexual feelgs that n often nflict wh social prsur placed on them by fay, iends, and the media. Mike Curato explor this tumultuo perd his new Godw Books graphic novel, Flamer, a semi-tobgraphil… * gay 15yo *
Once a teen out as gay, other stunts are ually eager to remd him of . CBS’ Pla Zahn asks Greg’s parents whether beg gay is the life they would have selected for their son.
A 16-YEAR-OLD WENT TO A GAY BAR WH A FAKE I.D. AND THGS COULD’VE END TERRIBLY IF NOT FOR THIS DRAG QUEEN
In 1998, parents might be more unhappy havg iends and relativ know that their child smok than that their child is gay.
It’s a watershed time: As adolcents have their first sexual experienc at younger ag (fifteen is the average), gay teens are addrsg their sexualy earlier and earlier.
A GAY TEEN DISVERS HIMSELF AT SUMMER MP THIS FLAMER FIRST LOOK
They’re fg the pattern and template for gay teenage life Ameri the same way their precsors did for gay adult life the Seventi and Eighti.
I spent ne months travelg the untry and talkg to gay teenagers the Wt, the Midwt, the North, the South.
MY 15YO HAS JT TOLD ME SHE'S GAY - HOW DO I HANDLE THIS? AND OTHER PARENTG QUTNS ANSWERED
Gay adults, like high school teacher Doug Wortham of Salt Lake Cy, spoke of havg had very different childhoods om those of gay kids now – of beg teenagers hidg.