To Be or Not To Be

Every day, millions of impressionable teenagers go to school only to be bullied and judged because of their sexual orientation. Being gay is not just a political issue, or something that we see on TV or hear on the radio, but never actually touches us. In actuality, a percentage of those students that sit next to us in class, or brush our shoulders in the hallways, will turn out to be gay. I had a really close friend in Alaska who was gay, and he came out in middle school; while he was very popular, he never had a boyfriend and was always excluded by the more insecure boys that went to our school. Being gay was never something he chose; it was just always a part of him. And regardless of whether you believe in nature or nurture affecting someone’s sexual orientation, he was undoubtedly gay, and suffered every day for it.

Because being gay is such a controversial topic that has the public, or more importantly older generations, either completely supportive of it or completely against it, teenagers may feel like they don’t have a say in how they feel. We can’t vote yet, and most days we don’t even have a voice strong enough to be heard. And what about those gay teens who go home every day to parents that are very clearly disgusted by the gay and lesbian community? It may be dramatically portrayed in the movies, but a lot of the drama we see is real and unintentionally based on someone’s lifestyle. There are teenagers who pretend to be something they’re not just to hold on to their parents love. It is a sad way to live, having to hide from the people who should embrace you regardless of who you are.

There are some brave people out there, who put on a façade and marry the opposite sex despite how they really feel. But I think it is braver to be who you truly are; men and women who have more opportunities and support from the community have embraced their roots. Some have undergone gender reassignment surgeries, others have bowed out of their marriages to explore those feelings they’ve always kept under the surface. I hope one day, all the students who go to school ashamed of their true feelings are brave enough to come out, and are accepted for it.