Gay Youth and Time Magazine
Let me start by saying that I am still upset about this email from my cousin. Now I'm upset not because she sent it to me, but because she hasn't responded to me. Then I also thought that I might want to send my feelings to some of my other family members, but then again I'm not sure I'm ready to stir up the pot that much.Ok, on to the topic of the post. Time Magazine has a cover story on gay teens this week. Pretty amazing stuff. I don't really consider myself that old (I'm 26), but when I read that in 1997, when I graduated high school, there were only 100 Gay Straight Alliances nationwide, and now there are over 3,000 I feel both old and proud that we have made such great strides. I really do lament that I struggled so much with coming out. I think I would have really done myself a greater service if I had come out earlier on. Oh well...
Jennifer talks about the Time piece here.
Pam has a very good take on the article here, and some choice quotes from freerepublic.com (a right wing website). They inclue the usual stereotyping and name calling that ignorance of a subject so often brings.
Also, the article with a preface from gayteens.com is here.
I'll be buying an issue of Time magazine to keep around. Who knows, maybe it will be a good talking point for my extended family.
Oh, for those of you that are interested in the ex-gay angle in all of this, Time does spend some time in that camp as well writing about Exouds Youth Day and Chad Thompson. I'd like to see them take a bit of a more skeptical view. If people are ex-gay, that is great (I'm pretty positive some people are no longer gay, for whatever reason). But, it should be noted that claims of 100% change being completely possible for all gay people and various success rates have never been substantiated or reported. (The first thing my dad clung on to when I came out was the hope of Exodus. He later did some research and decided the hope of me changing to straight had been wildly inflated by the Pastor he spoke too that volunteered for Exodus).
posted by Brady @ 2:14 PM
3 Comments:
I'm in a couple of ex-gay online discussion groups and the majority of members in those groups are people like your dad used to be just hoping that their children will become ex-gay. I really think alot of those parents end up doing more harm than good. While you know that I'm an advocate for change and have personally reaped the benefits of change, I am first and foremost an advocate for loving one another right where we are. I mean, you know what I think about homosexual acts. I don't need to beat you over the head with my belief in order to love you...in fact, that would not be loving you.
Hi Grace,
Thanks for commenting. You actually made me smile about this whole thing (which is good). You are right, I know what your view is and we disagree of course, but I'm glad to discuss it with you and even accept it. I think my frustration comes from the realization that many of my family members' opinions come out of ignorance of the subject and an unwillingness to broach the topic. Yours of course, is far different and the way you state your view really opens the lines of communication, making all of this easier to handle, I think.
Hey Trav,
Welcome and thanks for the link! I'll be stopping by over at your blog soon. I liked the Time article too. It gave me hope, because it was so positive about how gay teens are accepted in the schools today. But, I also viewed it as a bit too positive. I know some people that are fresh out of high school, and their experiences weren't completely so peaches and cream.
As for the Exodus thought, I agree. One of the things that kept me from coming out is all of the stereotypes of gays that I had seen (feminine, queeny, etc). I am a pretty "straight acting" person that plays sports and does more stereotypical "guy things." So, I didn't feel like I fit in with other gays. Then I came out and realized there is a huge variety of gay guys out there. The stereotypes just dont fit as neatly as some would have you believe (luckily for me).
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