This gay teen's very moving story of initial family rejection and ultimate salvation appears in today's Reno News & Review. His is just one of many other personal stories contributed by teens for the full article; but his is the only one telling of his family's rejection... but followed with love and acceptance expressed by an understanding grandparent!:

http://www.newsreview.com/reno/teen-issue/content?oid=9359026

I have taken the liberty of extracting his story below...

Today is March 20th and today is also the day that my boyfriend has left for rehab for the next four and something months. I am not sure how to feel right now, because I miss him dearly already, I miss his hands and his mouth and his voice that says 'I love you' and 'You are the world to me'. I am sad that he is missing from me. But he is safe, and love is winning, and for this, I am blessed. The last words he said to me as he left were 'you saved my life'.

I had my thirteenth birthday last week, but now that I'm "officially" a teenager I don't feel any different. Except that I'm no longer able to call myself a 'tween, and I'm thankful that's over! In some cultures I'd be considered a man now but I don't belong to one of those cultures : (

My Dads threw a really cool birthday party for me, but it was a bittersweet occasion for me. It will be the last time that my best friend Austin and I will get to be together for what may be a long time, and it was hard for me to hold my emotions back so I didn't.

I've discovered my new favorite visual artist! He's called David Burdeny, and these are some great examples of his work:

I've been getting a lot of extra hours at work lately, which is good. Twenty-three hours this past week, nineteen of which were during the weekend. I like to gripe about it but really it's good for me. When I'm working my mind is only focused on the tasks at hand. It's a distraction. A greasy way to kill time, if you will. Plus the money is nice to have, although I don't particularly yearn for tons of cash. Good news is I can buy books and put more in my pathetically small savings account.

Not!!!

So I'm going to eat lunch w/ Lina. We've been talking a bunch on FB but I'm not really sure if she *likes* me or thinks I seem like a good friend...It would be helpful if I knew she was gay.
I'm dressing up anyway :)
I just got back from shopping in Portland.I got 3 new dresses: A floor-lengh Grecian-style dress w/ blue flowers on it; A shorter green dress w/ white embroidery at the hem; and a short black tunic w/ little white hearts on it. My new green blouse and vintage blue shoes arrived too.
Can you tell I like clothes? :) I think I'll wear the green dress to lunch tomorrow.