How to deal with being gay in high school

- Chris MacLeod, MSW

Most of the time when someone feels awkward in a social interaction their sexual orientation isn't that relevant. Most situations are ones everyone has the potential to find difficult. However, there are some social struggles that are unique to people who are male lover. Or to put it more accurately, there are some social struggles that are unique to same-sex attracted men and lesbians because we live in a society that doesn't fully accept different sexual orientations, and that causes interpersonal complications.

Before I initiate I'll note a rare things to put the article in context:

• I'm unbent myself, though I've always been 100% in back of LGBT rights. So unlike a lot of the articles on this site that draw from my personal experiences, this one is based on research I've done.
• I'm writing this from the perspective of being gay in developed Western countries. Here LGBT rights still hold a long way to go, but things are better than they've ever been, and living as out is the norm. In most of the world people have to remain closeted their whole lives as a matter of basic safety.
• Many of the points I'll co
  

  Starting a Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) in Your School

  This content is intended to serve as general information; it is not legal advice nor intended as legal advice.

  What is a Gender and Sexuality Alliance?

  Genders and Sexualities Alliances (formerly known as Gay-Straight Alliances), or GSAs, are student-led and student-organized educational facility clubs that aim to create a safe, welcoming, and accepting school environment for all youth, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. GSAs provide a supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans person, and gender non-conforming (LGBTQ) students, as well as those who are perceived by others to be LGBTQ, are questioning their identity, have LGBTQ friends or family members, or just care about LGBTQ issues.

  Why should I begin a GSA at my school?

  GSAs help make schools safer for all students by providing support, educating others in your educational facility about LGBTQ issues, and engaging in awareness activities like the national Daytime of Silence. GSAs also allow LGBTQ and unbent students to work together to take on issues that affect all students, including harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation, gende
  
  

  Dear girl I was probably in romance with before I realized I was gay:

  Okay, you got me. I probably was in treasure with you. In my defense, I had convinced myself that thinking about you all the time and wanting to spend every day with you and trying to find excuses to talk to you and memorizing the contours of your face, your voice, your smile when you looked at me were all just things that good buddies did. I felt that my greatest purpose was making you laugh until your eyes welled up with tears, and I also consideration that most besties thought that about their gal pals.

  When the prickling feeling that it may have been love-related love tugged at my heart, I would simply choose a random female classmate and conceive myself kissing her, and the lack of desire I would feel at that fantasy convinced me that I cared not for you to any sapphic degree. That was my horrible, sorry if I ever made it awkward.

  The fact that I wanted to lie with you on top of a mountain with nobody around while we traced the stars with our eyes and made plans for our shared future genuinely did not strike me as anything but platonic at the time. The fact that I envisioned us as two confirmed bachelorettes living in the city

  

  I Was Bullied for Entity Gay as a Kid Even Though I’m Straight

  Going into seventh grade, I was really excited that I might be accepted. I knew a bunch of other kids from the other feeder elementary schools and, after puberty hit me hard in fourth grade (with all the coincidental Catholic shame about my desires and the explicit nature of my fantasies), I felt awkward but super into girls—crazily into girls, insanely into girls. I hoped I would have girlfriends and friends, and sense more comfortable in my own skin. That wish lasted until the finish of the first diurnal of seventh grade.I was going to play sports, because playing sports was one way to be “cool,” especially after three years of taking jazz and tap dancing classes—usually being the only young man in a class of girls in leotards. It was something that added to my girl craziness, even as friends questioned, gently, whether I was gay or not for taking dance classes. So, I felt a necessitate to do something “manly,” even though I had been part of the suburbs’ great pastime—soccer—in the local Catholic church league. Of course, we needed to take physicals first to make sure we were healthy.While waiting for one, it all went wrong. I saw one o

  What Do You Say to ‘That’s So Gay’ & Other Anti-LGBTQ+ Comments?

  It doesn’t matter if it is a first grader who might not know what the word “gay” means, a sixth grader trying to sound cool or a tenth grader “teasing” a friend. All of these scenarios have the potential of creating an unsafe classroom or school environment and must be addressed. So, what can caring adults do?
  

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  STOP IT…

  Keep it simple with quick responses:

  • “Remember, we don’t use put-downs in this class.”
  • “Do you know what ‘gay’ means?"
  • “It’s not OK at this school to utilize ‘gay’ disrespectfully to mean something is bad.”
  • “You may not have meant to be hurtful, but when you employ the word ‘gay’ to mean something is bad or stupid, it is hurtful.” Follow-up with, “Do you grasp why it is hurtful?”
  • “Using any insulting word to tease someone is harassment and is unacceptable.”
  • “Even if you didn’t mean to offend people who are gay, it is offensive to name this assignment male lover (or queer); if you don’t fancy something, then speak you don’t favor it!”
  • “It is never OK to speak, ‘you act appreciate a girl (or look like a boy)’ as a put-down.”
  • “Using a slu