1. THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2010
By ZACH HEINEMANN Not my best friend, not my mom, not
NESHAMINY HIGH SCHOOL
anybody. It was as though I was all by myself,
L ife is filled with many challenges, some of
which are based on things we just can’t help.
Whether it be prejudice toward religion, prejudice
and nobody could help me do this.
I realized now that feeling
alone is half the problem.
toward race, or one of the many other forms of preju-
A 16-year-old high school student
dice existing in our world today, nobody can deny
describes what coming out meant to him.
that dealing with this can be difficult.
But I’d like to talk about a certain kind of preju-
“For me, coming out was extremely hard A young teen
because my father’s side of the family is
dice. A prejudice toward something close to home
for me.
homophobic,” he says. “But my mother’s
side wasn’t and I’m glad they weren’t. You
shares his
Sexual orientation.
need people in your life to be there for you
Hating someone for liking the same gender.
This is close to home because I am a
and to back you up with anything you story of
choose to do or who you are as a person.”
homosexual.
It’s not an easy experience, and the prejudice is
I came out at 13 (I’m 14 now, a week
away from my 15th birthday). It was simi-
coming out —
just one of many more challenges to deal with.
lar to most others, in the sense that it was
But before I get into what we need to change,
a sort of ripple effect. a decision that
let’s look at how far we’ve really come.
You tell those who are closest to you
Back in the day, homosexuals were
often beaten up and abused heavily.
first, then work your way out. resulted in
I told my best friend first
They were seen as outcasts of socie-
ty, and up until 1973, it was con-
because, although I had anxiety, I
hoped she’d be understanding.
surprising
sidered a disease.
And there was my first
So logically, it was a disease
with a cure. Homosexuals were sub-
glimmer of hope — she support
smiled at me and just
ject to torture and brutal shock therapy
to “cure” and release the homosexuality
giggled, and
exclaimed: “That’s
from some
from them.
nice. Why’s it a big
Luckily, in 1973, the American
Psychiatric Association removed it
deal?” and nasty
I started to feel
from its list of ailments.
The Bible uses passages to claim
better, and I start-
ed to get more
jeers from
that homosexuality is a sin, and a par-
comfortable.
ticular passage details the events in
Maybe it wasn’t so others.
which a homosexual performs
hard after all. And I
heinous acts against a family, thus
leading some Christians to believe
slowly began to tell But most
people I knew.
that all homosexuals or most were
also going to perform such heinous
Close friends,
acquaintances,
importantly,
acts.
and eventually by
This was also proven false
when a study showed that 90 per-
the end of eighth being open
grade, I just came out
cent of molestation occurs from
heterosexual males. (Source:
to everyone.
After I came out,
about his
gayfamilysupport.com).
things changed.
Artists who were homosexual
Significantly. Some sexuality has
often kept their sexuality under
people laughed and
wraps and would not allow people
to know of it. It was often unheard
didn’t care. Some peo- allowed him
ple accepted it with
of to speak of it.
So, yes, we’ve certainly come a
warm, open arms,
which was a lovely sur-
to feel at
long way. But still, there’s a long
prise as you can imag-
way to go. The experience is
not easy — from coming
ine. peace with
But some did not.
out, to dealing with it, to
even finding someone.
Some yelled
“faggot!” in the
himself.
Speaking from experi-
halls. Some threw
ence, coming out is a scary and fright-
things at me as I
ening thing to do. How will people
walked down the street.
react? Will they look at you different-
Some looked at me very
ly? Will it be hard? Those were just
differently. Some people I
some of the questions racing through
thought had been my
my head.
friends for years couldn’t
It was like a furiously twisted knot
look at me, and made me
spinning in my stomach that persist-
feel like some sort of
ed for months. The words were all
monster. Like some sort
there, perfectly lined up and every-
of freak.
thing. But they just didn’t slide out
from my mouth and into the igno- See GAY, Page D2
rant ears of those around me.
I felt alone. I felt like nobody
around me would understand.
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