WaPo: 15 year-old gay teen speaks of his experiences
If puberty happens in middle school, why shouldn’t we expect lgbt awareness would begin then too?
From today’s WaPo, Owning His Gay Identity — at 15 Years Old; Youths Coming Out Sooner, but Protections Against Harassment Lag:
Saro, who first said he liked boys to a classmate in sixth grade, is like many of today’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths who openly discuss their sexual orientation and identity with friends, and sometimes family, before entering high school. In doing so, experts say, these youths are escaping the isolation of generations before them but also finding themselves vulnerable to harassment — or worse. A California eighth-grader who expressed interest in asking another boy to be his valentine was fatally shot in February in a case that drew national attention.
“Within any given school system, there may be a very accepting crowd and a very hateful crowd,” said Robert-Jay Green, executive director of the Rockway Institute in San Francisco, a national center for LGBT research and public policy. “You have to find a way to avoid the people who will hurt you and keep close to the group that will accept you.”
In recent years, 110 Gay Straight Alliance clubs, which are common in high schools nationwide, have sprouted in middle schools, including nine in Maryland and Virginia. Kevin Jennings, the founder of the first club, said he “never anticipated” they would also form in middle grades. His organization, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is creating age-appropriate pamphlets to respond to the trend.
This year, students in 1,046 middle schools took part in the Day of Silence, a protest against LGBT intolerance, organizers said, double the participation level of the previous year.
“Unlike people of my generation, where there was very little visibility and a great sense of sadness, these kids know gay people are out there,” Jennings said. “They have a language now to understand their feelings.”
And there’s this:
The first time Saro said aloud what he had always felt — that he liked boys — came when he lived in Prince George’s County. The words tumbled out, Saro said, as he and another sixth-grader were walking home. The boy shrugged it off with a “So?”
Later that year, that boy called him an anti-gay slur. When Saro ran to tell the teacher, according to a letter his parents wrote to the school, he was told: “Well, you act like one, so you should be used to it by now.”
The issues are difficult and complex — for parents and for kids. The article is sensitive and complete. Please read it.
4 Responses to “WaPo: 15 year-old gay teen speaks of his experiences”
A friend of mine's son has already identified as TG, he wants to be female and has exhibited signs since he was 8. He's 12 now. This isn't something he learned, it's ingrained. His other brother and sister are normal gender-identified. My heart breaks for this kid. He's funny, smart and good natured. Needless to say he's started down the years-long road of therapy.
Isn't that persecution enough?
I couldn't tell so I'll ask. Are you heart broke because this kid is probably transgendered or what society will do to him?
I see this as a 200lb gorilla in the room. Plenty of people who will more or less readily accept a gay adult, and who are perfectly willing to accept the idea that being gay is something you're born with, balk at the idea of a gay 12 year old. But if you accept the first two premises, it's blindingly obvious that these children exist. There is zero reason to suppose that GLBT children become sexually aware any later than heterosexual children. So any age that's soon enough for a straight kid to start liking kids of the opposite sex is going to have gay kids doing the same.
I think it's partly due to the over-sexualized concept of GLBT people. Somehow GLBT issues are associated with mature sexual feelings, whereas people understand that heterosexuality goes in a range from innocent thoughts of holding hands and upwards from there. People balk because they imagine that a 10 year old shouldn't be thinking about anal sex, but the fact is they almost certainly don't. Rather, just like their straight counterparts, they think of holding hands or maybe a little kiss. If gay is normal, gay kids are normal.
I see this as a 200lb gorilla in the room. Plenty of people who will more or less readily accept a gay adult, and who are perfectly willing to accept the idea that being gay is something you're born with, balk at the idea of a gay 12 year old. But if you accept the first two premises, it's blindingly obvious that these children exist. There is zero reason to suppose that GLBT children become sexually aware any later than heterosexual children. So any age that's soon enough for a straight kid to start liking kids of the opposite sex is going to have gay kids doing the same.
I think it's partly due to the over-sexualized concept of GLBT people. Somehow GLBT issues are associated with mature sexual feelings, whereas people understand that heterosexuality goes in a range from innocent thoughts of holding hands and upwards from there. People balk because they imagine that a 10 year old shouldn't be thinking about anal sex, but the fact is they almost certainly don't. Rather, just like their straight counterparts, they think of holding hands or maybe a little kiss. If gay is normal, gay kids are normal.