For Everyone Who Has Ever Asked Why It’s So Hard to Come Out…
More than once I’ve had the question posed, “Why do LGBT people find it so hard to ‘come out’?”. I’ve explained to such individuals the dangers faced by LGBT people when coming out, such as potentially losing their friends, family,homes, jobs, and even their lives. The problems are magnified for teenagers, who are under the authority of their parents. This story illustrates all to clearly the dangers some individuals face when coming out.
Violence broke out Sunday in Anderson (S.C.) when an 18-year-old man returned home from a gay pride parade and was assaulted by his father.
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During the assault, the teen’s 49-year-old father yelled, cursed, swung a baseball bat, prayed and tried to “cast the demon of homosexuality out of him,” according to the teen’s version of events to Deputy S.C. Weymouth, the incident report states.
About 2 p.m. Wednesday, the teen said his father punched him when he returned to the house for clothes that he left on Sunday, the report states.
The teen told deputies that his father “has a problem with him being gay and that is why he hit him with the baseball bat Sunday,” Weymouth said in his report.
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Deputies, who have not been able to make immediate contact with the teen’s father, report that both incidents are under investigation.
As noted in my Press Release Roundup last week, as many as 40% of runaway and homeless youth are LGBT. So the above story is far from unique, and all too tragic.
Now people might just have an idea why it’s so hard to come out, and just what is at stake.
