I wasn't even looking for this, but I watched it anyway.

http://www.inthelifetv.or...es/99.html

The site navigation is a bit confusing. I think I clicked on WATCH SEGMENT to play the video.

It's very moving.

shit

They should have more shelters/centers for teens.....for some, it would be their only source of support.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/h...540514.stm

Daniel Radcliffe backs suicide helpline



Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has filmed a public service announcement to help prevent suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.

Radcliffe made the film for The Trevor Project, a non-profit US organisation that runs a 24-hour helpline.

The 20-year-old actor said he knew many gay men when he was growing up.

"Then I went to school and (for) the first time I came across homophobia," he said. "I had never encountered it before. It shocked me."

He added: "I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals. Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it."

The public service film was shot at the Trevor Project's offices on Wall Street, New York, and will be aired this spring.

Last year, the organisation revealed that Radcliffe had given them a "major donation".

It's so strange to me how in this day and age where kids are coming out earlier and feeling good about it, there are still others that don't.

It's terrible.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

Teenangst works the way it does; these new emotions/hormones are so overpowering, it's easy to lose perspective for the more emotional kids.

But true, gay kids have some extra hurdles to self-acceptance, I suppose.

I used to have to take alternative routes home from school as there were groups waiting for me at the underground station and bus stops.

School was a nightmare in that respect, but I always knew they'd end up living in a tower block with a screaming brat by the time they were 20,whilst I would be living the life of Riley.

vivid said:

That's a new saying to me, so I had to look it up. I initially read that as "Ripley" and I had this image in my head of you. beautifully dressed and your hair parted to one side, strangling the living daylights out of your former tormentors.

vivid said:

There are so many youngsters not so self-determined or knowing, growing up thinking they are freaks, abominations... it's one of the short-comings of our 'culture', not recognising the possibilities of difference.

HamsterHuey said:

Absolutely. I was very lucky in that respect. My best friend who was in the same situation as me struggled enormously, but in the end he's done really well for himself I'm glad to say.

I also had/have a deeply catholic and rampantly homophobic father, and I was an altar boy in church, where the priest told me in no uncertain terms where my kind would end up.

I was in quite a hurry to grow up

HamsterHuey said:

I did have a side-parting in those days and I cut quite a dash in my cassock and surplus

vivid said:

I took some time, but when I came out, I really came OUT, ya know?

HamsterHuey said:

I walked out of that school gate not long after turning 16 and never looked back.

vivid said:

Same here. I thought I was LATE to the party, so I went for it. But still, some of that old insecurity lingered. All due to other people's values.

And when it comes to catholicism, their god, the way they practise their beliefs... not my thing. Any deity, except nature, is unbelievable to me. I was drawn into conversation by a catholic political group (we have to vote tomorrow for our councils) and I cut it off immediately with the words "your god is unbelievable to me" and they just gasped for air. Purrrr

vivid said:

It's funny, I used to think the same thing about the bullys in my school. AND it came true.

HamsterHuey said:

Yep, I left the church when I was 12

vivid said:

I was kicked out, age 8. For asking too politically correct questions.

Sometimes I feel guilty because I didn't have a hard time coming out. Not really. My parents were ehh about it. They were great. My friends stayed my friends, event he straight ones.

I think that's why I feel for all these kids that get bullied and teased and tortured.

Fauxie and I had a conversation last summer with regards to Thai teens and homosexuality.

It seems like Thai teenage boys are self-actualized 'gays' by the time they're 14 or 15, and it doesn't seem to affect their acceptance amongst their peers. It's truly the strangest thing ever to western eyes to see a couple of jocks, a girls, and may a gay boy or two all in the same group walking down the street. It's like it's no big deal here. Very odd.

It's one of the things that makes me wonder if I should just stick it out here in Thailand--I'm enjoying this strange culture too much.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

I just came out also. Mom's reaction; "Ooooh... I kneeeeew ever since you were three, hunny!"

I suppose it was my fondness for the Roman soldier skirts from the Theatre Company collection that they kept above the stage of my father's community center...

HamsterHuey said:

Hahah! Yes.

I knew when I was 5 years old. I had little girlfriends and stuff but I messed around with all the neighbors. Heheee.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

I think that popular culture shows gay teens an idealised faux reality, which is far more dangerous in some respects than the truth.

Life certainly isn't all Ugly Betty, Glee or Desperate Housewives. It must be mind-blowing being a gay teen today and seeing representations of yourself in popular shows - but there's no balance; no depiction of potential threat.

I'm sure organisations like GLAAD wouldn't agree with me - but there you go.

GirlBrother said:

The USA is a large hell hole with spots of sanity. In rural america, this is still a nightmare.

Interesting conversation going on here. I'm straight and was raised and believe the Catholic way but also believe in tolerance.

For those who believe that you are going to hell because your gay or Jewish or whatever...I think they missed the entire idea of what God is all about. He is understanding, accepting and forgiving.

A question I have for the gay community, and I mean no disrespect, I'm just curious...

Is there any other animal on God's green earth that purposely chooses to be romantically involved with their own gender?

This is my mom's main argument against it and I've never been able to come back on that one. She and I have our "philosophical" conversations about various topics, homosexuality being one.

She of course feels all gays are going to hell, but then claims that if Jeffrey Dahmer repented at the pearly gates, he's in heaven. Go figure.

So, really...is there another animal?

StonedImmaculate said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...in_animals

GirlBrother said:

OH MY GOD!

I had no idea...thanks!

StonedImmaculate said:

Yeah, it's quite common.

StonedImmaculate said:

The Amsterdam Zoo (Artis) gave guided tours through the park in the past, as they have some gay animals and they want to show that it's indeed natural.

I love Amsterdam.

How sad. Those kids are suffering greatly.