Outright, right out?

[stevekenson]

A brief history lesson for those not in the Have Known Me Forever category: eleven years ago, I helped start a gay youth-group called Nashua Outright here in NH. I've volunteered as a facilitator ever since. The group has waxed and waned over the years, gained and lost both volunteers and youth members.

We usually facilitate two weeks in a row (meetings are Monday nights). Tonight was my second week and also the second no-show. Last week, not too big a surprise; it was Labor Day and attendance has been down a bit over the summer (as is usually the case). Today, a bit more of a concern. I know we're in a transitional place: end of the summer, some youth moving on to college, others old enough to hit the bars (especially since one local bar has 18+ nights).

Still I wonder if our group is as relevant as when we started it. Back then, there was no gay-straight alliances in NH high schools, very few resources, and my alma mater (good ol' Merrimack High) had a Radical Right school board that tried to ban teaching anything about homosexuality that cast it in a "favorable" light (that is, treated it as anything other than a disorder).

Now there are GSAs in many local schools, teens are coming out to their peers and parents much younger, there are images of queer people in the media, and there are far more resources on the Internet alone than I could have imagined in my high school days. I'm certainly not saying there aren't battles still to be won, but I'm wondering if our little skirmish has played itself out. Time will tell if Outright is something the local gay youth still need, or if they've found other "out-lets" (so to speak).

(On the other hand, the last two non-meetings have resulted in fun conversations with my fellow facilitators about paganism, magick, and tarot, so they haven't been complete wastes of time...)

Comments

[wisepiscean.livejournal.com]

Even if the group passes into obscurity, you should be proud of the work you've done. it's because of you, and people like you that there are now gay figures in the media. It's because you were brave enough to offer a shelter of safety that modern youth feel comfortable coming out earlier and that their peers are accepting of them when they do. The next generation of gay youth doesn't have to live in obscurity and self-loathing.

Bravo. You should be very proud of your empty seats on Monday nights.

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

Perhaps, if it's going as you think it may, it's time for Outright to grow or change, to go beyond a gay youth advocate/support group and into something more. I couldn't tell you what -- you naturally know better what that might be, and for all I know you may have already been pondering it for years. Regardless, wisepiscean is right: be proud. (You probably already are, but it bears saying anyway.) Congratulations, because you've done something great.