Starting on May 23, The New York Times will begin publishing the results of its “Coming Out” project:
The Times spoke with or e-mailed close to 100 gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender teenagers from all of parts of the country — from rural areas to urban centers, from supportive and hostile environments. The newspaper contacted them through various advocacy groups around the country, as well as through social media like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. The Trevor Project, which provides counseling to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths in crisis, among other services, posted a call for teenagers to tell their stories to The Times, resulting in nearly 250 responses. At times, young people led us to others.
The youths who participated were in different phases of coming out: some had come out only to themselves, some to people in certain realms of their lives, some to only one trusted friend or family member; some came out to their family or community and then, realizing they lacked the support they needed, rescinded the declaration — and came out again a couple of years later. Others spoke of hating themselves in the process of accepting who they are.
This has the potential of being quite interesting and/or fraught with LGBT faux pas. We’ll be following up!