How coincidental... Thank you YGS
It is odd that as I was looking for a font that I had downloaded a long time ago on old back-up CDs I came across a saved conversation from AIM. The conversation was with this guy named Dan, who went to University of Washington. How did we meet? On a listserv for gay teens, Youth Guardian Services. To those not in the gay community (or who don't know much about it) it is quite difficult to find resources in real life sometimes on the subject of being gay or finding a place of acceptance before you come out. The internet has dramatically made a difference in that there are vast amounts of web sites, people and organizations who serve that very purpose.
I used to post on a web site called Witty Banter and for a few years it was quite a nice place to retreat to when I didn't have many friends in real life. This was the beginning of high school, freshman to junior year, and by junior year I was at my third school. Not because I was a problematic teenager, that is just how it happened in my life. So having a group of friends from my childhood proved quite difficult as I had gone to elementary and middle school in Tucson before my mother passed away.
One of the other people who posted on WB happened to be a great man named Steve Schalchlin who was on the Board of Directors for YGS (I believe, the details are fuzzy) who I emailed one day after a summer of soul searching following my junior year going into senior year. He had posted originally as Gay Guy or something like that and after much harrassment by fellow posters, he changed it to just Guy. I don't even know if I knew his real name, but I emailed him apologizing for ever saying anything mean to him on the forum because now I understood.
He directed me to YGS and I joined the 17-21 year old listserv, as well as a listserv for his musical The Last Session, which was also very supportive. It was just such a relief and a comfort to know that all over the place, people were going through exactly what I was, as well as dealing with a lot of other issues as well. I remember posting about what me and my friends did, responding to people who needed help and just talking to people on IM who I finally had something in common with.
I don't even think a whole year went by before I sort of lost interest in the list or didn't need it, as I developed a real life support group of friends after having the courage to come out to my English teacher, who happened to be the advisor to the revival of the Rainbow Alliance or something like that, which was now called Bridges: Beyond Tolerance. This group was instrumental in becoming more comfortable with myself and who I was.
I read on Jason Hungerford's livejournal (also the Founder of YGS) that 10 years ago today, YGS was launched. As I look on the Board of Directors, I see many of the names from the TLS listserv that were also so supportive.
Having just come across that saved conversation from about six years ago, I wanted to post the other night about how influential it was joining that listserv. And now here it is going strong after ten years. Thank you Jason, Steve and thank you to all the other wonderful people who are part of it! I don't know what I would have done without you.
I used to post on a web site called Witty Banter and for a few years it was quite a nice place to retreat to when I didn't have many friends in real life. This was the beginning of high school, freshman to junior year, and by junior year I was at my third school. Not because I was a problematic teenager, that is just how it happened in my life. So having a group of friends from my childhood proved quite difficult as I had gone to elementary and middle school in Tucson before my mother passed away.
One of the other people who posted on WB happened to be a great man named Steve Schalchlin who was on the Board of Directors for YGS (I believe, the details are fuzzy) who I emailed one day after a summer of soul searching following my junior year going into senior year. He had posted originally as Gay Guy or something like that and after much harrassment by fellow posters, he changed it to just Guy. I don't even know if I knew his real name, but I emailed him apologizing for ever saying anything mean to him on the forum because now I understood.
He directed me to YGS and I joined the 17-21 year old listserv, as well as a listserv for his musical The Last Session, which was also very supportive. It was just such a relief and a comfort to know that all over the place, people were going through exactly what I was, as well as dealing with a lot of other issues as well. I remember posting about what me and my friends did, responding to people who needed help and just talking to people on IM who I finally had something in common with.
I don't even think a whole year went by before I sort of lost interest in the list or didn't need it, as I developed a real life support group of friends after having the courage to come out to my English teacher, who happened to be the advisor to the revival of the Rainbow Alliance or something like that, which was now called Bridges: Beyond Tolerance. This group was instrumental in becoming more comfortable with myself and who I was.
I read on Jason Hungerford's livejournal (also the Founder of YGS) that 10 years ago today, YGS was launched. As I look on the Board of Directors, I see many of the names from the TLS listserv that were also so supportive.
Having just come across that saved conversation from about six years ago, I wanted to post the other night about how influential it was joining that listserv. And now here it is going strong after ten years. Thank you Jason, Steve and thank you to all the other wonderful people who are part of it! I don't know what I would have done without you.