Site updated:  Sunday, December 25, 2005                                               You are Not Alone:   GLB Resources      On this page you will find An introduction to the site Contact Opportunities.   Click here to see Columbus, Ohio Pride 2005 PhotographsAn estimated 100,000 persons attended   Whether or not you know it, someone you know is gay, bisexual or lesbian.  Maybe it is an uncle, a sister, a friend, a teacher or even a parent.  Though there are no reliable “numbers,” it is possible that one out of every ten persons may be gay or lesbian. That means that there are well over 2 million gay teens in the United States alone! There are also millions of GLB adults. Someone you know is GLB. He or she may not have told you, but if you are gay, bisexual, you are not alone.  Most recent research suggests that people do not choose their sexual orientation.  Why, in fact, would anyone choose to be oppressed?  In fact, there is a very real possibility that we are born gay, straight or bisexual.  So, while being gay or lesbian is not a choice, you can choose whether to deny or accept yourself, and you can choose how to live your life as a person who is gay. If you are a teen or young adult, high school and college can be especially challenging and even frightening.  Besides discovering, or questioning, your sexual orientation, you are dealing with the tasks of high school and young adulthood. If you have come to the realization that you are gay, lesbian or bisexual, you must also learn to love and express yourself in a society that often does not understand or accept you.  You may also feel confused, guilty, ashamed, depressed, betrayed or frightened.  You may feel alone or as though you don’t belong anywhere.  After all, our families and society raise us to be straight.  You, in fact, were raised to be who you are not--a heterosexual (straight) person. You, however, are not alone as a GLB or Questioning person.  Look around you.  Chances are, if you are in a room with 30 persons, there may be two or three individuals who are gay or lesbian. Someone else may be bisexual. I built this site to help you find resources to better know, understand and accept yourself. Remember, though, I am not a counselor. What I include is information that would have made my life easier when I was a student. If you are a teacher, you probably came into the profession because of your love of young people and your need to make a difference in the world. If you are gay, bisexual or lesbian, you may feel the pain of hiding behind closed doors as you work to open doors for your students.  You may fear for your job while wanting to live a life of integrity.  You may feel pulled to protect yourself or to live a life of honesty and health. I designed this site for all individuals who are working to make our schools safe for all persons regardless of sexual orientation. If you are a parent or a friend of someone who is GLB, and you are struggling with the knowledge of that person’s sexual orientation, I hope this site will help you to better know, understand and love that person.  He or she is no different than before.  All that is different is that he/she, out of trust and love for you, has told you more about him/herself. Do not lose your son, daughter or friend over who he or she was born to be. The task is not easy, but the stakes are too great if we do not work together to make the world a safer and more welcoming place for all persons. I offer much of my own story to you on this web site.  Though we all have our own stories, many of us share similar themes.  I offer my story in the hope that it might help you to know that you are not alone. I also offer it because it is through our stories that we can best touch the minds and hearts of other persons. Too often people approach GLB challenges and issues as an academic exercise. Living people, however, are gay, lesbian, and bisexual. How we respond to these persons can sometimes even be a matter of life and death. “...gay [persons] are natural, not an abomination, deserve life, are innately healthy, don’t need anyone’s permission or approval to be alive, and can unlearn the negative self-image they have been taught.”Penn, Robert. The Gay Men’s Wellness Guide, 6. NOTE:  For the sake of writing, I will often use the word gay to denote gay, lesbian and bisexual. NOTE:  Please note that I have tried to link only to sites appropriate for persons of all ages. I cannot, however, guarantee the content of any of those sites. NOTE:  Though I have tried to site sources as appropriate, there are some sections of information where I could not again find the source since I collected it before considering putting together a web page.  If you see something here that is not cited but know the source, please e-mail me.  I would enjoy hearing from you.  What about this site is helpful or not helpful? What would you like to see added?  What questions do you have that I should try to research?  What links do you recommend?    Feel free to link to this site.  I would, however, enjoy hearing from you if you do add this URL to your own site. If you have a web page you think I should include, please let me know.  Photographs at Flickr Sign and/or view the Guest book E-Mail Me    s="na";c="na";j="na";f=""+escape(document.referrer) s=screen.width;v=navigator.appName if (v != "Netscape") {c=screen.colorDepth} else {c=screen.pixelDepth} j=navigator.javaEnabled() function pr(n) {document.write(n,"\n");} NS2Ch=0 if (navigator.appName == "Netscape" && navigator.appVersion.charAt(0) == "2") {NS2Ch=1} if (NS2Ch == 0) { r="&size="+s+"&colors="+c+"&referer="+f+"&java="+j+"" pr("