Tell Us Your Story

i am sixteen and i atend a school wich being gay is okay it is something you see in the hallways and it is something that is welcomed it might come from the fact that i live in vegas . school is really the only place i can some what be myself being lesbian is not okay in my home my mom talks against and my church hates it but just cause the church it self hates it doesnt mean the members do i attend a church where evryone knows i am gay and they do not say they accept it but i know they trust me by letting me baby sit their kids or ever by my bishop allowing me to go to an all girls camp .
my mom will one day come around to it i hope but i am glad to say that my teachers and my youth councelors at church make a big diffrence in my life and i do not know what i would do with out them .

HELO
I AM THE MOTHER OF A GAY SON AND I AM GLAD TO SEE

THAT THEIR ARE PEOPLE WHO CARE AND ARE TRYING TO MAKE

A DIFFERENCE .MY SON MICHEAL IS A WONDERFUL BOY

HE IS 34 YEARS OLD I KNEW MY SON WAS GAY FROM WHEN HE

WAS A YOUNG AGE.I ACCEPCTED IT HE IS MY SON AND I LOVE

HIM. BUT UNFORTAINLEY HIS FATHER DIDNT HAVE THE SAME

LOVE FOR THE FACT THAT HIS SON WAS GAY.

IT WAS A VERY BAD SISTUITION AT MY HOUSE.

TO THE POINT WERE WE GOT DEVORICE.

ALL I CAN SAY IS STAND BY YOUR CHILDREN NO MATTER WHAT

THEIR LIFE IS .

YOU DONT SOMTIMES GET A SECOND CHANCE FOR SOME.

THANK U
SANDRA GARCIA

Discrimination At The Job

My name is Mr. Stevenson and I have worked as a teacher for over the past 15 years. I have dedicated my life to inspiring, influencing, and educating young people in my state of Maryland. I have received numerous commendations, citations, and awards for my work in both public and private schools. In December 2005 I became ill and had to be hospitalized. I found out while in the hospital that I was HIV positive. Though I was initially crushed by the news, I realized that being HIV positive is not a death sentence. I have surrounded myself with supportive family and friends, and I am happy to say that over the past 3 years I have gone from practically dying from AIDS to being completely healthy with an undetectable viral load. However, when my school administrator found out that I was HIV positive, I was immediately fired from my job. I contacted an attorney as well as the EEOC, and after a thorough investigation, the EEOC found that I was wrongfully terminated. They have given the school an opportunity to settle out of court, but to this day they will not consider settlement or admit any wrongdoing. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I continue to battle discrimination, and your support and suggestions would be most appreciated.

I have many friends who are gay, lesbian, and or bisexual and I don't care what they are. I may not be any one of these, but I want to help these people who are being discriminated every single day by straight people who think it's okay to do so. In my opinion, it doesn't matter who and what you are, the only thing that matters is that you have people who love you. It doesn't matter if people hate you or make fun of you as long as you have people who love you for who you are. This is my voice and my way of trying to help the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community.

Looking at me, I look like your normal teenager. You see a young man who is big, tall and intelligent. There is something that many know about me, however there are many others who do not know because I keep it to myself. I am a homosexual teen going through life trying to figure out who I am and what I want in life. It was hard for me to “come out of the closet” to my friends and family because being a homosexual is unusual in the Mexican community. I am proud of who I am and who I am and the choices that I have made in life. At first, being involved in a sport was hard for me. My own teammates looked at me weird and thought I liked them. I told them I did not like them and was taking wrestling just for the fun of the sport. They understood but sometimes they would still make jokes that, often, I did not appreciate. Dealing with homophobic people at school has helped me grow as a person. During the day, I walk down the halls of my high school and hear rude remarks made about me. I will never let this negatively affect me or my education. Many people look at me and say that it is wrong to be gay. I reply to them, “If you can love the one you want, then why can I not love the one I choose.” They always say that it is different, that it is not the same, but I am a person just like them . My dreams and aspirations is to pursue higher education and give back to my community and help gay teens who are struggling to find themselves and are struggling to be accepted by others.

When I was about 6 I noticed that I was different than alot of my friends & that I was acting how my mother did not want me to act. My Mother was the first one that I told about me being different...although I was not for sure what it was I told my mom...the next year she died in a horable car accident... After I had told her that I thought I was a lesbian we never talked that much. After she died I then had to live with my dad and he then & still does hate the gays and lesbians...but he has to live with me...When I first came out to them alot of my friends knew and I had told people that I had trusted. One day me and my Dad and Step Mom were in the car and he told me "One day your going to wind up in a ditch dead somewhere for telling the wrong person that you 'say' your gay and know one is going to care"...I wanted to start crying but I relised that I would do no good...although me and my dad kind of get along I always remember that day that he said those horable words to me...He's all I got and I want him to love me for who I am...Not for what he thinks that I need to be...

I am a 17 year old young woman and this in my story. Ever since I was a little girl I have always been attracted to girls. I never knew what it was or that it wasn't accepted in society so I didn't really worry about it and I lived life like it was. I remember one time when I was in elementary school, I think it was, I was sitting next to this girl and I liked her so I kissed her on the cheek. Well I got in trouble by the teacher and all of the kids made fun of me. That was the first time I had ever experienced anyone being against what I liked. After that I started learning more and more about what I liked and that it was considered being "lesbian" but along with that, I learned the hatred that people had for it. My parents told me about my older sister and that she was gay. I had never met her before but knowing that she was just like me gave me comfort. After that I understood that being "lesbian" was wrong in other peoples eyes, but I couldn't help being attracted to girls. I dated guys to not be judged but was never happy with myself. When I finally got to middle school I started to notice how people, well guys, like "girl on girl" action. That's when I started thinking that maybe people would be alright with me being a lesbian. Well I didn't want to shock people all at once so I decided to ease it on them. I went and told people that I was bi, this seemed to be more accepted than all the way lesbian. Of course, some still didn't like it but I wasn't the most liked girl in school anyways. So I decided to try it on my parents, let them know how I truly felt. My mom thought I was just bi polar because the way i tried to explain it to her I made it seem like I was just depressed all the time. What I tried to say to her was that I was sad with guys and when I was with girls I was happy. My dad was alright with it. He loved me anyways, but my mom, she freaked out. She made me go see a therapist and though it helped with some problems at school, it wasn't like I really wanted to talk to her about me being gay...I didn't need to be cured and I wasn't even comfortable telling everyone I wasn't bi that I was really lesbian. Well, that didn't really help too much. So mom just ignored it and dad just accepted it. When I got into high school I finally got my first girlfriend. That was when I sat down with my parents in the kitchen and told them I had a girlfriend, that I really liked her, and she was coming over so they could meet her. My dad said he was happy for me but you could see that my mom was really freaking out, she just kept it inside. During the relationship I was in, mom started making me talk to this pastor who proceeded to tell me how I was going to go to hell for being me and that this was no way to live. My girlfriend at the time drove me to the church one time for one of the sessions, we pop kissed and she left. The next day the pastor talked to both of us and told us that someone saw us kiss and that it was inappropriate. After that, I decided that no one was going to tell me who I was because in my heart, I knew I wasn't evil or anything. I am who I am and there is no wrong in it. God loves me for me and he shows that to me everyday. Later on in my life, my one true hero, my father died of colon cancer. He was the one person who understood me and accepted me for who I was. He never fought with me about who I was and he never told me I was wrong. After his death, life was never the same. I have learned how to deal with many things in my life and I am strong for it. But things after that, they never got the same. I tried my hardest to make my mom happy. After me and my first girlfriend broke up, I tried to date guys again, but one time, just one, I made a wrong decision. I was rapped and I hide it from everyone. Things just weren't making any sense and life wasn't getting any better. I had realized that I fell away from who I was and saw what I had become. Now, I am an openly gave young woman who knows that things will change in the world. My relationship with my mother has not gotten any better since then but I have faith that it will. I try my hardest to get her to watch all of the LGBT programs that are shown just to maybe get her to understand things. Knowing that there are organizations and people out there fighting for people like me so that my children and there children can be treated equally comforts me so greatly. I thank you so much for listening to my story. Adios.

Our city has a population of about 80,000 people and the Gay Community is so small here that we don't have a Pride parade, we don't have really any gay themed events that allow us all to interact with each other and build up the community.

However, a new alliance has started up in the city of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. The city I moved to 4 years ago.

Gay members of the city have built a Gay Straight Alliance to get together and encourage knowledge into others about the GLBT community and allow us to show others that were just people, whomever we love has no effect on them, and why should it bother them.

Want more details on our GSA - Gay Straight Alliance. E-mail me so I can tell you all about it. Maybe we can build more alliances like this across the globe so we can encourage others...that being gay is not wrong and does not make us different. We're still the same humans with the same feelings.

HELLO MY NAME IS ERICA I COME FROM A SMALL TOWN THAT IS VERY CONSERVATIVE BUT IM HERE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IM STARTING A RADIO SHOW HERE ON KFSC 94.1 IN VISALIA CALIFORNIA MY FIRST TOPIC IS GAY MARRIAGE SO THAT OUR YOUTH AND PEOPLE DONT FEEL ALONE I WASNT ACCEPTED AT ALL BY MY GRANDPARENTS WHO RAISED ME FOR A LONG TIME IM 26 YEARS OLD AND I HAVE THE MOST WONDERFUL FAMILY WHO SUPPORTS ME NOW IN EVERY DECISIONS THAT I MAKE AND SUPPORT GAY LESBIEN BISEXUAL TRANSGENDER PEOPLE 100% IM VERY GRATEFUL NOW IM DOING EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING FOR US TO GET RECOGNIZED AS "HUMAN BEINGS" AND TO BE TREATED EQUALLY.......

THANK YOU
FROM VISALIA CALIFORNIA

This is my story...

It is 2008 and although we as a society have come a long way and there are more and more people who are understanding and accepting, we still have a long way to go. in my 27 years I have experience some discrimination and encountered hatred but nothing I can't dust off my shoulder. I'm a very optimistic person and always try to send good positive energy back. And in my case, I never made me being gay who I am. I never had to tell my parents I was gay. They were just introduced to my partner and although I'm sure they were confused at first they are very supportive and loving. Although it took several years for me to be comfortable in my own skin and realized that there was nothing wrong with me and that it was OK to be gay, especially coming from a latin catholic background, finally I got there. And I'm glad to know that I've affected several peoples' lives just by being me and not compromising my believes for fear of rejection. I have seen with my own eyes how homophobic-macho-guys have changed their perspective of me and I had gain their respect and friendship just for sticking up for myself. Unfortunately, not everything comes as easy sometimes as one would like it to be. Recently I was up for a promotion at work. It was a great opportunity and I was grateful to even be considered for it. There were only two candidates for the job including myself, and we were both excited for it. The manager whom I was going to work along with had requested me as her first choice, since I had more experience and discipline in her eyes. And members of the corporation were very impressed by my work and numbers. As a second choice was the other guy, whom she also trained and she was very proud of. She pushed for both to get the position since two people were truly needed. But she would had been happy for either of us to get it as she needed help desperately. Well, after several months of anticipation and changes I had to do to get ready for the position. I was told I wasn't going to get it because I "didn't have the look". And although I was confused at first and asked what that meant I didn't get an answer as the decision had been taken by upper management. So, although I was discouraged. I was happy for the other guy because I knew him also. Then I was informed that he didn't get the job either due to the same reason not having "the look". In my head I was trying to figure out what "the look" was if the other guy and I looked COMPLETELY different from one another. I have more of an edgy look which I knew I had to tame for the position. But the other guy was always very conservative and physically completely different from me. Then, it dawn on me. The ONLY thing we have in common with the other guy is that we are both openly gay, and there isn't any gay or at least openly gay members in the staff. Two months later there's still an opening for that position because they haven't found anyone that is as qualified for it. More people with "the look" have been hired and trained but that specific position is still available. Its sad to think to this day this kind of things still happen. But I'm not a quitter! I might not get that specific position but I'll get a better one. I can assure you. Because my story is to be continued...

Hi everyone
My name is Brie, im 25 and I have been out for almost ten years now. I am one of the lucky kids who parents didn't flip out when I told them I was gay. In fact...my father had already known I was gay for a few years before I came out, however, I understand the pain and fear that kids go though...parents who hate....parents who attempt to change their children.
It wasent until after I went to college that I experanced the true hands of violence that gays are subjected to all to often. I went to a local gay bar with my girlfreind and some other gay freinds, The night was great, we danced and drank a little, and end up staying until closeing time, we were walking to our cars and ended up being attacked by a group of men.
While I still wear the scars of that night...I do not let it rule my life. In spite of the fear that the night of terror planted deep inside the darkest parts of my heart, I have not let it control my life. Love is stronger then hate. To those of you have been touched by hate and fear..stay strong...it will get better!

I'm not gay, but my favorite cousin, Kyle is.
I am 13 years old and I have thought that I was bisexual.
I am still not sure, but that is not the point.
My cousin came out to his parents about being gay at the age of 14.
His mother was fine with it, but his step dad, not so much.
His step dead was raised army style, and had a certain way of doing things.
He recently had gotten into a fight with his step dad over the matter.
There was a lot of anger, hatred, cursing, tears, etc.
Kyle is 18 now and has decided to attend nursing school.
The point of this story was not to entertain you.
It wasn't even really a story and you probably don't see a point in writing this.
But there is.
I want the world to know that gays nd lesbains are being hated still do this day, and unfrotunatley I don't think it will end.
This is to prove to you that no matter what people throw at gays and lesbians, there strong and they will stand up for what I believe in.
Kyle handled the situation better then anyone else would have.
He had the chance to beat his step dad up, but didn't.
He talked it out.
Don't get me wrong, he cried too, but at least he used his brain, and not his fists.
This is for you Kyle.
I'm proud of you && I love you always and forever.

- Jilian C.

I'm a female-to-male transsexual who's been out of work since September of 2007.

I have 16 years experience in the field of telephone appointment setting and have won several awards for it, which is why I couldn't understand why I was having so much trouble finding work.

I've put in application after application and gone to interview after interview but I've not been hired.

I didn't realize until a few months ago that the Social Security Administration, in tandem with the Department of Homeland Security, had effectively thrown me to the wolves.

Recent changes in the way these 2 governmental agencies handle personal information has made it extremely difficult for me to gain employment.

In an effort to prevent illegal immigrants from gaining work in the US, if any information provided on the job application, including gender, doesn't match what's on record with the SSA, the SSA sends a letter informing the employer or prospective employer of the discrepency.

The SSA doesn't recognize transgendered persons as being their chosen gender until after surgery, which leaves pre-operative transsexuals such as myself very much out in the cold.

My choices effectively are to either out myself to a prospective employer during the interview, which in a stste such as mine which has no laws protecting transgendered people from discrimination, is equivalent to shooting myself in the foot, or I can wait until the SSA informs them of my (former) "gender", leaving the employer free to fire me on the grounds that I "lied" on the application.

For all intents and purposes, I am at the mercy of the open-mindedness, or lack thereof, of whoever is considering hiring me.

I've been on testosterone for 14 years and look and sound entirely male.

Not only is it extremely uncomfortable (one might even say traumatic) for me to have to out myself during each job interview, it's frankly galling as well, since this information is not only irrelevant to the type of work I'm applying for, it's really no one else's business in the first place.

I know from experience that no one is the wiser to my transexual status unless I choose to tell them, which is very much how I prefer to keep it.

But the SSA and Dept of Homeland Security have made keeping my private life private an impossibility for me.

They have also made it nearly impossible for me to find a job so I can support myself.

I'm a month away from losing my apartment and everything I own.

If I don't find work soon, I honestly don't know what will become of me.

I hope you'll read and share my story with those who make these poilicies and that efforts toward revision of this highly discriminatory policy be made as soon as possible.

Thank you very much for this opportunity to tell someone what I've been experiencing.

I hope it will help.

sincerely and with all love
John L Parks

X

Who Am I?

I am spirit
I am nature
I am light and sunshine
I am creature and creator
I am shaman
I am healer
I am of two worlds
I am of this and of that and everything in between

I am mirror and reflection
I am as God made me
I am Divine

I am faithful
I am love
I am queer
I am curious

I am Brother and Sister
I am Husband and Wife
I am Father Mother Son and Daughter
I am Aunt and Uncle

I am trusted support and confessor
I am self aware

I am body and blood
I am flesh and bone
I am sex
I am water
I am breath
I am meditation and thought

I am song and dance
I am painter and the brush
I am words and action
I am critic and voice
I am politics and peacemaker
I am warrior and worrier
I am doctor lawyer teacher and preacher

I am right and wrong
I am drink and drugs and disease
I am hated
I am abused denied and vilified
I have HIV and HepC
But AIDS will not be the death of me

I am gay lesbian bisexual transgender
I am proud
I am a rainbow
I am a bridge between
Past Present Future
The here the now
the what was and what will be

I am my true self my true being
I am here to stay
This is my time to be alive!

I am myth
I am legend
I am lover and I am loved
I am perfect as I am
I am joy
I am bliss
I love myself as I am

Hi I'm a lesbian from Eastern Europe, small country probably you never heart and maybe you never will. As I'm looking back in the days I'm very lucky because I did what my heart wanted no metter what. Almoust 15 years a lieve with a very nice and carrying woman with a big heart and strong nervs. We get doughter together she is almoust 15 and she told me that I gave her wings to fly.(I'm not her birth mother, my partner is. My parents always supported me well my mom not always untill I met HER. Well, all that is very good- I have a strong relations with my partner, my kid, my parents, my frends know about us, but... It comes but... most of the time (all of the time with neighbors, strangers, others) we pretend we are sisters and do you know why because in my country people like me got beathen on the street for who they are. 2 days ago there were firs gay pride or I have to say it was a try for pride. 50 gay pals walking with ballons and absolutly no music, excorted from 10 000 of police officers and another 50 000 to 100 000 idiotic creatures holding Molotov bombs and trowing them on PURPOSE against people like me. Thay've been trying to kill as much as thay can more gay people because thay supose not to be normal. I feel very normal, my friends gay and straight took me normal if I don't say nobody will gess I'm lesbian but I am and I'm not ashemed for who I am I'm ashamed for were I leave and how capsulated people are still in that former(maybe not so former) communist country - Bulgaria

well first off, i would like to start out saying my name is Matt, and i am 19 year old. I came out at the age of 14 ! It was young yeah, and it was hard to. My mom told my dad, not knowing that he didnt know, and my dad completely flipped out. I ended up in the hospital with a broken nose, 3 cracked ribs, and i had internal bleeding. Needless to say, I was ok. My dad ended up spending 6 months in jail, and when he got out the first thing he said to me was"sorry." Despite the fact that my family is very, Southern Baptist, everything worked out in the end, i am attending college, i have a full time job, and i coach a high school cheerleading team. The GLAAD Awards -- i dont even know where to begin, it gives me hope that someday everyone wont be so hateful, and its good to see gays, and lesbians, on TV !!! I always look forward to watching the GLAAD Awards, and i LOVE Bravo!

I personally am not blessed enough to be homosexual although I did lose my first boyfriend to another man, for a gawky shy red head in high school, that was confusing in itself. Though, it was a blessing to watch my best friend find himself and a happiness and self I still search all these years later for in a hetrosexual world.

It was a blast to go to bars with him and his friends. I loved his life and still do. Forty years later, we are still best friends. He and his partner have been together in joy and love for longer than most "straight" folks I know.

Thank you for supporting those I love most.

mlt

My Story? Its an interesting one. One year ago, almost to the day, I met a boy, and fell in love. And this isnt just "love"... This is fairytale romance with a passion. When I met my love online, I was in the midst of the Baptish Church. And actually, they talked me straight when I braved my fears to tell them. They met me with the Bible, and condemnation, and scared me back into my closet. I gave up the boy, and pretended to live like all the normal guys, but... I couldnt stop crying myself to sleep. 4 months later, I reunited with him with some prodding from freinds I had met. And then, one year after I met him, I came out to my mom, for the second time. With a bitterness I will never let myself forget, I was forced to flee from my home into the arms of my beloved. And since then I have rebuilt my thoughts, my opinions... My entire life. I am a new person, thanks to the freinds that opened their arms to me, and became my new family. To all of those view me without contempt, and those who open your arms to those who are without hope... In tears... I salute you...

Should you wish to know me, and my story, which is so much longer than these pages can contain...

Dear GLAAD,
My name is B.H. and i'm a 15 year old high school student. I personally think it is a great thing that you are helping inspire young teens to be who they are and i myself have trully be inspired.
I watched the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards on the internet Today and almost broke into tears(tears of joy) from what was being said about the gay community.
I just wish that you keep up the amazing work you have done.
I think it's just nice to know that their is someone out there supporting you or standing up for you and GLAAD you are that person(s).
Thank You

My name is Michael and I'm a gay teen. I think that the glaad media awards are a really good thing because it shows people that being gay , lesbian, bi, or trans gendered is nothing to be ashamed of or anything to be afraid of.
I came out when I was 14 years old to my mom, i told her that i thought i was gay and she said she knew, she said she always knew. I thought that i would come out to the rest of my family later but then my mom got really sick and passed away. it made me do a complete turn around and i began to hate myself thinking that i had disappointed her in some way, i tried to hide from myself i had girlfriends and then i realized i was just lying to my self and i needed to accept myself be fore anyone else could. when i finally made peace with myself i came out to my sister who is my best friend and the one person i can always rely on and she will always stand by me. i came out to most of my family after that and they all accepted me and told me that there was nothing wrong with me and that i was still the same person that they loved. the only person i didnt tell was my dad because i didnt think that he would love me any more and that i would be the biggest disappointment to him, I turned 18 a few months ago and i finally told him, he was actually really good about it and I think we have actually gotten closer.

I just want to say that there is nothing wrong with anyone in this world, NORMAL is a term that applies to no one, no one is normal everybody is different in there own way. No one deserves to feel less important or loved by anyone because they are gay or straight or anything we are all just people trying to survive in this crazy thing we call life.

My name is Charlie, I'm 18 years old and currently on my way to becoming a male as social standards dictate. I have only just been able to come out to my family and friends as transgender this year because previously I did not know what that even meant. I have always thought I was a boy since my childhood - short hair cuts, played for every sports team that would allow me on, transformer and power ranger toys, the whole lot - but I was attracted to men, so I did not know what to think.

Transgender in my local area is something that people are not even aware of. For them, it's that scene in a movie where a man is lured into bed by a sexy a woman and finds out that she is "really a man" and runs out screaming. So even though I had all of these desires for my organs to match my mindset and to be able to hang out with guys my age without being seen as a manly girl, I didn't know what I could do about it. The adults in my community are just as sheltered, as when I came out to my mother, she had thought I was going to tell her I was a lesbian, which could not be farther from the truth.

It was through articles and programs like GLAAD that I discovered that not only was I alone, but that there was something I could do. Through the increasing transgender movements and articles that have appeared lately, I've been able to tell more and more people about who I really am, and hopefully, now that I am 18, will soon be able to start the process of becoming a man on the outside to match my inside. Not only will I have to face the problems of a transgendered youth but also those of a homosexual youth too. Thankfully, the fight for gay and lesbian rights has come a long way, and my transition from a straight female to a gay male is not something I am worried about. I can only hope that the same rights come for the transcommunity so that myself and my community will be able to walk about and be just as open about our genitalia, whether it matches any social stigma or not, as we are about our sexualities.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Mirjam S. I am an 17 years old student, at Mt. Sinai High School. Yes I am by. (If anyone needs or wants to know!) I also a shoulder to cry on as my friends say. Last year my art teacher made us draw a picture of our brain. We also had to write what we thought about on this brain. I decide to write down "having a girlfriend" on mine. When I got my project back, my friends asked me. "Are you gay, Mirjam" I had to tell her the truth. Yes I at that time I was gay, I only had girlfriends at his time and now I dating a guy. She was the one who tolled a lot of class, My secret. So I said to answer all your questions at once yes I am gay. The next day I was called in to my socal workers office. (that was must fun NOT) I had to tell her. After that a boy from art class asked me on a date. I thought he was joking. He pushed in the gargde pen. A girl who I just know her name came up to me and asked if I was ok. That same girl sat with me until the princpal came. All I member her saying how cool I was for doing what I did. That night I asked my mom to strave my hand and that I wanted to be a boy. I tolled that I was gay. It toke a few days but my mom drive me down to ligay a safe place for gay youth. She stay until I was ready to join the other kids that were playing there games. I kept taking about me being gay in school. Even though teachers dislike it. My mom kept driving me down to ligay even firday night. At school kids came up to me asking adivce, telling how me how cool I was for doing what I am doing. But kids made fun of me. (which was not cool) but I have one question that I couldn't have answered until now.
Why was putting myself out they for popple to judge me? People I didn't even know.
Because if I didn't who would.

As a Latino man I have to face and continuously validate myself as a man - to a culture that's embedded with machismo. The GLAAD Media Awards have helped many people face their own personal struggles, including those that are part of Spanish-speaking communities. GLAAD has had in the GLAAD Media Awards, South Florida the support of icons like Jorge Ramos, India, Gloria Estefan, Ivy Queen, Cristina Saralegui and many others.

When families of all ages see celebs/ talent of this caliber supporting a gay organizations they tend to be more open to new point of views and not feel not so alone in their struggle to understand the what a gay friend or family member is dealing with.

As I personally have made little progress with my homophobic mother, I can say the little notch of progress which would of never been possible was made through GLAAD's efforts.

And for this I will always be grateful - soy GLAAD!

I started to realize that I was attracted to girls when i was about twelve. However I was going to a catholic school where homosexuality is not a sin but they did not find it acceptable. In the fifth grade during a sex ed class the teacher said to us, "You are all heterosexual but should treat homosexuals with respect." When i remembered her saying that years later I thought, 'How dare she say we are all straight, like being catholic automatically means heterosexual.' Especially telling a child their orientation at ten/eleven years old. Anyway because of that I convinced myself that i was straight. I sort of built a wall for myself telling people I was as straight as a person could get, and I was able to convince myself of this. I was never able to make relationships last with guys though. Something didn't feel right and I always broke it off fairly quickly. That is until I met this guy in high school when i was 16. I fell in love with him right away. I won't get in to that but one night about six months into the relationship I was on the phone with him and said that I had to tell him something but it was really hard because I hadn't really accepted it completely myself yet. I hesitated and then just blurted it out, 'I think I'm bisexual.' He said, 'I figured and you know I love you no matter what.' The next day I was talking to my mom and she mentioned how my uncle is a homophobe. I asked her how he would feel about someone who is bisexual. She said he would probably feel the same. I said, 'oh well that sucks because I'm bisexual.' She said it didn't bother her at all which was a huge relief. Anyway I didn't tell anyone else. My boyfriend and my mom were the only ones who knew. My relationship, which lasted about a year, ended the beginning of my junior year, just before i turned seventeen. I still can't talk about what happened even now. Anyway about six months passed and I was finally ready to try coming out to my friends. I started with one and then she kind of blurted it to another friend who was sitting next to me. She kind of jokingly moved away and i just said, 'You're not my type.' She just said, 'Ok cool what is your type.' It was cool that two of my close friends accepted me. They were the only two I was ready to come out to. One day in my history class it was near the end of the class and my friend mentioned something about gay people and I just said, 'Be careful what you say around me,' and she just said, "Oh yeah you're bi." I did one of those shhhh sounds and she said, "Come on come out of the closet," loud enough for everyone to hear. Then suddenly I hear, "Ali, you're bi? you like a little nibble on the side ha ha." It was a guy that gives everyone crap because he has low self esteem but reguardless it hurt me. My ex was in the class too during that and he just stayed silent. I was angry with myself for coming out, angry with my friend for telling everyone, angry with that guy for what he said. I didn't mention that my class was 48 people so news spread quickly. The bell rang after that "nibble" comment and I couldn't bear to go to my next class. I went to the guidance councillor and imediately started balling. I told her that I came out to my friends and I regreted it because of what hppened. At that moment my friends came in to make sure I was ok. The class knew and I was alright with that. The next weekend my friend who yanked me out of the closet had a lifeguard class for a waterpark we both work at. She called me on her brake and said, "Hey i just met this really cool girl in guard class and she's bi, I want you guys to meet" we all had a waterpark safety course the next week and that is where I met my first girlfriend. She was one of the most beautiful girls I had ever see, great body beautiful long brown hair with brown eyes, high cheek bone. The cool part was she didn't think she was hot. She was very tomboyish but not butchy. We started talking and clicked very quickly but she was afraid to ask me out because she didn't know how I felt about her. This seems cruel but it wasn't. One night I was on the phone with my friend talking about the girl and decided to three-way her in and pretend I wasn't there. She confessed that she liked me but didn't know how I felt. Thats when my friend blew my cover that I was listening and I told her that I thought she was cute. We later found out that we lived about 100ft away from each other and were friends with all the same people yet somehow we never met. I have a lot of friends in the small town where I live (not the same town my school was in) and none of them knew I liked girls yet. It was a shocker when I came out of know where dating a girl but they all thought it was cool. (ALL of my town friends are guys) My school quickly found out that I was dating a girl except for one friend who started trying to get my other friend to hate me for dating a girl but they wouldn't. It still hurt me though that I lost a friend over my orientation and even worse that she was trying to turn others against me. It wasn't all great though. My juniour prom came up and I was told I couldn't go with my girlfriend because it is a catholic school. I let that go and just didn't go to my prom. My relationship with my girlfriend lasted about six months. You see I believe in God and I love God but she in an athiest and would let me know on numerous ocassions that she didn't like that I believed in God. She loved me and was always there for me but I knew that it wouldn't work in the long run because of my faith so I ended it. She was hurt for a while but know we are the best of friends. Anyway during my relationship with her the wall that I had built up when I was twelve years old came crumbling down little by little. I realized that I really am not attracted to guys on a relationship level. I am now out as a lesbian. When I went back to high school for my senior year I was out about being gay and everyone accepted it which was great. I feel like I would give a guy a chance if I was best friend with him cause personality matters most to me but I am still prominantly attracted to females and for that I am a lesbian or hyper-lesbian I call myself sometimes. I'm 19 now and in art college. People know I'm gay and are cool with it. Coming out wasn't easy but once you tell that first person it truely does get easier.

I was joined in a civil union in Vermont in 2001. As you probably know, Vermont has residency requirements to dissolve civil unions that are not realistic if you live in Texas. I recently moved back to my home State of Massachusettes, thinking that there was no way to take advantage of marriage in Mass becuase I was already joined in a civil unioin in Vermont. I contacted GLAAD and found out that there were a few cases where Judges in Mass were disolving civil unions from Vermont for Mass residents.
GLAAD recommended several attorneys that may take my case. I contacted all of them and found a match in Gabriella Kiraly. She walked me through the whole process and thoroughly researched the cases in Mass where a dissolution had been granted. She was very kind and compasionate and I felt comfortable with her advice and her services.
As of July 3rd, my civil union has been disolved. I cannot express my gratitude to GLAAD for pointing me in the right direction and for Gabriella for being so wonderful. I can now marry my partner of five years if we wish to do so.
Thank you again for the advice and prompt response to my questions and for referring me to Gabriella. I had a wonderful experience with her and I finally feel completely free.

Sincerely,
Andy Wordell

I am not personally gay, but I do have gay and lesbian friends, and I just wanted to say what is in my heart, and what I believe. We are all created equal, God gave us the freedom and choice, and how dare anyone try to take that away, by demeaning how we feel, and who we love. I saw the 2008 GLAAD awards, and it was an eye opening experience for me. I thought having gay and lesbian friends made me open to all ideas, and in a way it has, but I had no idea how much I was missing, and how much I did not understand the endurance LGBT people face day after day. It brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart to see the celebration of life and love the GLAAD awards showed the world. I am truly awed at the lengths the GLAAD organization has gone for their cause, for their lively hood, for the right to love. I am and always will be a warrior of GLAAD. Hopefully, some day soon we will all be able to unite and stop the hate that abounds so much. Thank You, for striving so hard, you make me believe that there is hope for us all. Keep up the awesome work, and know you have a believer and a warrior of the cause for life.

After reading the below notices I am pleased to see so many people are now being proud and assertive. I am a 32 year old gay male living in an extremely small Roman Catholic village in Ireland.
Twenty years ago I accepted the fact that I was different from most people and about two years later I had my first experience. Yes, extremely young and wrong, however this is not what this blog/notice is about.

I am a fully qualified therapist and work on a voluntary basis for young men and women who have issues with sexuality and acceptance. I do this on a voluntary basis so that other individuals do not need to suffer the humiliation and shame that I had to persevere. Many people forget that small town mentality is strong and dominant in Ireland and violent attacks is still a regular occurrence but well hidden by media and law enforcement. We are afraid to be who we are in public and at work not to mention in our own homes. My job as a therapist is to assist clients to develop and approach milestones but so often I just wish I could gather us all together and battle what I call “ The dark Side of humanity”.
On numerous occasions I have had to assist friends and clients relocate some three hundred miles away from home so that they can start a new life. I have assisted in helping then with work, bank accounts and to some extent move from Ireland to other countries . A large majority of them are like myself - Roman Catholic - and the shame that they(we) bring to the family according to parents is unacceptable.
Teenagers in Ireland are still being asked to leave home because they are gay and not to return. I have been helping and assisting now for over a decade and really the main point I wish to put out today is being gay is not a crime or a punishment from a higher order. It is a choice and I have to say it is not an easy choice. We face humiliation in the work place – ignorance on the streets and we have to continually prove that we are better than most.

To all young gay men and women reading this – Enjoy life, grasp every moment of live you can and embrace all those who support you. Accept those who cant accept you for who you are - it is they who are ignorant and uneducated, be proud of who and what you are.
Maybe one day Ireland will have the same approach and embrace its gay population.
Dany

hello to all

I am a musician from Jersey. I have a lot of gay friends that I love dearly. Just want people to know, that you can be straight and love people for who they are. As an singer songwriter, I would like to share to the gay community, my support. As an inspiration, from my friends, I wrote a tune called "it's Time For Us To Change". So, I hope this heals people's wounds and open their hearts. So pass on the love .....

Blessed Be
Fred

p.s. to hear the tune , "It,s Time For Us To Change" go to
www.myspace.com/fredmoisesmusic
thanks

I am a sixteen year guy in the 11th grade and i just recently came out during the summer. At first i was like what will my mom think, wwhat will my grandparents think, it was one the scariest things i had to com out and say because i was tired of lyinh to people ! When i was in the 8th grade i started to come out to friends and they all were like its fine i dont care i still love and will be your friend no matter who you like which made me soo happy. When i came out to my mom she was like why did u mhide it and did you think i wasnt gonna love you and was liek no but its just something i had to get enough courage to tell you. My grnadma was kida liek are you sure and i was like YES... lol and my grandpa was a little denial adn would try and convice me that im not but i was like im GAY get use to it and now he is fine with it... but im soo thankful for having sooo many loving an caring freinds that still liek me even tho i am gay.