OK, it’s been a few years since I was in high school. Well, more than a few. Which is why I loved finding this article. A guy who is gay in high school who comes out as a high school freshman to his family and friends and who becomes homecoming king? Wow, I love how things have changed.
The Pitch, a local Kansas City avant-garde weekly, ran this article which I happened to find online! I went to goodasyou.org to investigate the gay blogger Jeremy Hooper and found his blog from May 7th too compelling. (Jeremy was highlighted in the May 6th edition of The Advocate.) The article is great; you have to check it out! It takes you from the basketball game that Matthew Pope is cheering at (he is also a senior cheerleader) through his life growing up, discovering he was gay, telling his friends and family, and finally fulfilling a dream of being nominated by his peers as Homecoming King!
I am so thrilled to see this kind social progress. I grew up in a time when even if you knew you were gay you did not talk about it, not to your friends, not to your family. I spent too many years in the closet before I finally began coming out — first to friends, finally to family. Now it seems like ancient history since now I am so comfortable with being out that I easily tell my coworkers and new friends. It is part of me. I am celebrating a 15-year anniversary this month with my partner, so that helps.
Socially we are really making big strides. It may not seem it at times, but trust me — we are miles ahead of where we were 30 years ago! How cool is it that this guy has friends around him every day in high school who know he is gay and accept him for that?
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