An excerpt:

“I don’t want to make it sound like Fair Haven’s completely archaic, but they had to shut down the gay/straight alliance at our high school because there were so many threats,” Holden says.

That happened just before his freshman year. He wanted to revive it, but others were reluctant.

“Even the teacher who was running it got threats. Coming out shouldn’t be as difficult as it is. Gay news on TV and in newspapers is all about the struggle. There are happy sides to being gay. Some people actually get ‘happily ever after’ or as close as you can get. I think there are a lot of people who could use a story like this.”

Even so, Holden’s five-word explanation of “I just like helping people” may not seem reason enough for an introvert to speak out so publicly. And so you ask one more time about his motivation that freshman year.

From
Gay teen says state isn’t always so civil, Rutland Herald, 8/19/2007

Vermont’s got a reputation for being pro-gay; we did Civil Unions back when they were uncool, and we’ve got a reputation for being a lefty state, but it’s really a lot more complicated than that.  There are major lefty elements here, but they intersect with reactionary wingnut elements in strange and bizarre ways.  Don’t get me wrong: I love Vermont, but a lot of nasty homophobic stuff came out during the civil unions meetings and there were some real prejudices unveiled during that time and even for the next couple years later.

Anyway, I posted the above excerpt (and it’s worth reading the whole article) because I think it reflects what a lot of us go through, regardless of when and where we come out.