How To Think Like A ’90s Closeted Gay Teenager

May each LGBTQ generation struggle less than the one before. posted on

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How To Think Like A '90s Closeted Gay ...

1. At school, you waste a lot of time thinking, “I’m the gay one.” You say to yourself, “If 10% of the population is gay, and there are 30 students in the class, then if I one of the gays, who are the other two?”

2. You know what is meant by “Right is Wrong, Left is Right.” You hear that some kid got his right ear pierced by accident. He subsequently became the “school fag.” You giggle along with everybody else.

3. Your history or civics teachers never discuss Harvey Milk or Stonewall. There are no books about gay rights in the school library. You look up homosexual in the dictionary. There you see the word in print. You are alone.

4. Saying you like “The Smiths” to your classmates is your scream for help. Your school binder, not your Facebook wall, is covered in Smiths’ lyrics. #boyafraid

5. ABC’s “My So Called Life” has a gay character. But, NBC’s “Friends” is on at the same time. At home, there is no Hulu, no DVR. So, the family watches “Friends.” Whew!

6. You think you are safe when “My So Called Life” is dropped. But, then right after “Friends,” “Will & Grace” starts to come on Must See TV Thursday nights. There is no escape.

7. At night, you learn about all things gay in AOL chat rooms. You come out to faceless strangers who console you then ask you to meet them. You promise yourself you’ll never visit a chat room again. You dial up the modem the very next night.

8. Saying “Cindy Crawford” saves you from being beaten up by the guys on the high school football team, the same guys who ten years prior were your friends in grade school. You watch “Heathers.”

9. You can’t help but think that gay is synonymous with AIDS. So, if you did come out of the closet, you know you’ll hear your mom freak out that you will get AIDS and die within the year.

10. When someone mentions “Ellen,” you pretend not to know who she is.

11. When you hear that a kid in Wyoming got killed for being gay, you think, “That could have been me.” Or, “I could be the next Matthew Shepard.”

Watch the Official Trailer to the new documentary “Matt Shepard is a friend of Mine.”

Video available at: http://vimeo.com/76594178.

Free Screening in San Francisco

A free screening of this movie, sponsored by Facing History and Ourselves, will play in San Francisco on Nov 12th. RSVP for the event here http://bit.ly/18MsjpQ

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