Letter From Brian

The one thing that we as human beings desire the most is also the one thing that we as human beings fear the most: to open up to one another and let each other see ourselves for who we really are. Every person has a story to tell but very few opportunities to tell it. In order for a person to "come out" in any way, he or she needs someone to come out to.

As a gay youth, there was no one I could talk to in the town where I grew up. A lot of people did not want to hear what I had to say. So I looked to the Internet and chat rooms to find people to ask how they got through it. Most of the time this led to chatting with men, knowing that it would only be a few more minutes, and a few more words, before they stopped listening and started asking about my looks, my sexual experiences and when I wanted to meet in person. Even though I never met any of them, I wanted to know what it felt like to be taken care of by another man, to be held, and most of all for another man to see me, all of me, and love what he saw.

-- Brian, age 19

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