The NY Times has a
pretty long article about coming out in middle school, including some interviews with kids in Maine.
I was guilty of my share of [disbelief], too, the first time I met Kera — then a 12-year-old seventh grader — and her 13-year-old best friend, Justin, last spring in a city in New England. Kera had small, delicate features. Justin had freckles and braces. They seemed like kids. Yet there they were at a bookstore coffee shop after school, talking nonchalantly — when they weren’t giggling uncontrollably about one of their many inside jokes, that is — about their sexual identities. Kera said she was bisexual. Justin said he was gay. The effect was initially surreal to me, and before long I heard myself blurt out, “But you’re so young!”
It's a thoughtful article, and the author acknowledges his own prejudices; the basic message is that the world isn't quite ready for these kids, but it can't stop them. I like that.
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing this article. It makes me happy that things are getting just a little bit easier for young people. Still a lot of work to do in promotion acceptance (and celebration!).
What a huge difference from when I was in junior high. Imagine a time when it's no big deal at all.
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