The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently created a video guide to help public school students who are interested in starting a Gay-Straight Alliance get their club off the ground. Check out the video here or look at this page for additional help and support. Also, consider naming your GSA something more inclusive like a QSA (Queer-Straight Alliance) to create a truly welcoming and safe space for all students. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMWCSTh6nIU&feature=player_embedded

Johnny De Vito shares his coming out story in celebration of our National Coming Out Day on October 11th.

So believe me I could talk on and on about coming out, but I would much rather hear your stories. So, I've opted for a short poem I wrote about identity and what it has meant to find myself.  I hope you all enjoy! http://youtu.be/O-GXDqEvEdg But if you want the whole story: I grew up in pretty liberal household in New Jersey. I can not remember the exact moment when I began to question my sexuality, but I can say that I do remember my first crush. It was seventh grade. I was playing Grandpa Joe in a stage version of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and I fell for Veruca Salt.  I came out to her and we dated for a year. That same year I came out to pretty much everyone as bisexual. My family was generally accepting, and my mother (who is my rock) was the most accepting of them all. I went through middle and high school dating both men and women (my love affair with Veruca alas  did not last).  I even tried to help start a gay-straight alliance in my high school, but we faced a lack of support from the administration, although they do now have ...

One thing my father started telling me around my junior year of high school was that college was going to be a fresh start. No one would really know me there and I could completely reinvent myself if I wanted to. I was fairly happy with the person I was – pretty much comfortable with my personality, but I knew going into college that there was one thing I wanted to change: I wanted to be open about my sexuality. Sure, my closest high school friends knew that I wasn’t exactly straight, but deep down inside I knew that as much as I wanted to be attracted to women, as much as I desperately wanted to be “normal” I was kidding myself. When I got to college, I was literally surrounded by people who were gay. It was almost overwhelming to be with all these people who were similar to me. Some were out for years, others still in the closet. I kept true to the promise I made to myself and lived openly as a gay man at college. I felt accepted by my peers for who I was and, for the most part, things were going really great. Now, I knew I wanted ...

I think that growing up in a small community in the shadow of New York City was an interesting place to develop as a male coming into his own skin. I lived less than an hour train ride away from the greatest city in the world (pardon the bias to all of you non-New Yorkers) where everyone is supposed to be open minded and liberal, but I wasn't actually living there. I was still in a small town with one main street, a local coffee shop where everyone hung out, and one train station serviced every few hours taking those who dared to dream outside of our bubble into an “actual reality”. By no means am I trying to knock the place where I grew up, though. It helped mold me into who I am and I hope to never lose sight of that. I guess I'm merely trying to convey to you that this was the type of place that everybody knew your name, business, social security number, and a whole lot more. It wasn't exactly an ideal situation for a a closeted gay man living in the body of someone who appeared to be just any other teenager. Just ...

I wanted to make my coming out story a bit different. Instead of writing I decided to record my story for all of you to hear. Now when I began to record my story I went on for much longer than I expected. If you look below you will see a graphic which represents a timeline that corresponds with my story. If you hover over it little dots should appear, and if you hover over them you'll be able to play my story. If you want the short form I suggest you hover over the last dot ("Coming Out Finale") over to the right. If you want to listen to it in it's entirety, I would suggest you go from left to right. Coming out is hard process for all of us, in my case it was an extremely difficult and draining experience. Find out why below:

You would think, that in a city where everyone is welcome, in a family that holds no judgments, in a school that is open to all ideas, that coming to terms with being gay would be an easy step. In a liberal culture, we hope that one day people discovering that they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender will do so without even blinking an eye and neither will the people around them. Sadly, we are no where near that reality, because there are still too many people out there that think that being gay is a bad thing, and I’m talking about the straight people (or seemingly straight people *Cough* Ted Haggard *Cough*). In a perfect world, a person’s decision to come out would not be based on exterior factors or pressure, but what they feel inside. Even for me, a native of San Francisco, I did not want to come out. I did not want be different. I wanted to blend in - a face in a crowd of people that looked like me. I was afraid of how I would stand out and how people would treat me differently (and I know some of you are rolling your eyes ...

When I look back on my life, some of my most important moments of identity formation took place while I was reading books for English class. I had no concept of what it meant to be "gay" - let alone what the word itself meant. I fed on the subtle and more overt undertones of gay relationships found in books such as A Separate Peace, The Catcher in the Rye and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. These books were assigned to the class for their literary merit - there was rarely a discussion in the class of the queer themes that I thought were so blatantly obvious. I saw myself reflected in these pages, their emotions, their confusion and struggle. As a frightened young boy, I can tell you there is nothing more magical than knowing you are not alone. I had no idea where to find books by queer authors - too afraid to go to the local library and search. How would I even know which ones I would enjoy and want to read over and over again? Once I entered college, my boyfriend told me about Christopher Rice, the gay son and author of Ann Rice (that woman we have to ...

I recently learned about the You Will Rise Project, an anti-bullying initiative that encourages those who have been bullied to channel their frustrations and emotions into creative expressions.  This site features submissions from a wide range of bullying survivors and was started by artists Linda Regula and Paul Richmond, who both endured bullying during their youth. You Will Rise is all about empowerment, which aligns so perfectly with BornLikeThis' own messaging. You Will Rise states on its "Inspiration" page that they are dedicated to helping you tell your story through the arts. Submissions can be visual (photography, paintings, drawings etc.), text-based (poetry, lyrics, short stories etc.) or even multimedia youtube videos. I really fell in love with this project as soon as I found it. The title, You Will Rise is a nod to the phoenix - a mythical bird that rises from the ashes. This bird has long since been used as a symbol of rebirth and speaks to overcoming personal hardships. Part of the reason You Will Rise resonates with me so much is that I've always been a creative person and have experienced firsthand how healing creative expression can be when things during my life are far from ideal. When I was ...

Transforming Families is an organization based in  Los Angeles, California that does some amazing, amazing work. They’re all about providing a supportive environment for children, adolescents, and their families to explore issues of gender identity. These parents embrace their children's gender non-conforming and trans identities and work together to help one another. Transforming Families has something called The Family Group, which is held once a month and is comprised of several peer support groups - one for parents, one for their youth/adolescents and a play group for their children. They’ve got something for everyone. It’s all about building community and sharing resources – and trust me, they’ve compiled a ton of information about trans identities. Check out their website’s resources page to watch youtube videos, listen to audio broadcasts or read any one of the articles written on the subject. Feel free to contact a representative at: Dawn@TransformingFamily.org John@TransformingFamily.org or call at: (818) 254-9654