My Virtual Reading Room

LGBTQ activist and journalist Bil Browning reminisces about the importance of a simple toy

...I would not have thought the numbers are so high...

"...I’d unknowingly learned another lesson from the bus-inspired fantasies of vanquishing the bullies: If you want to succeed, if you want to move forward, you first have to open your mouth. So, I came out. I couldn’t stay home any longer and quickly became another statistic: 40 percent of homeless youths are LGBTQ. Family conflict is the most common reason; half of all teens get a negative reaction from their parents when they come out. One out of four are thrown out of their home."