Metroline Online

A little while back we reviewed a Lifetime movie called “Prayers for Bobby.” The film was an outstanding real-life story about gay suicide. This is a real-life, real-time problem our community must deal with. A lot of good has been done so far by a lot of different organizations but more, much more remains to be done. If you feel you should do something to help, you couldn’t be more on the mark. And here is a great way to reach out to a member of our community in need.

The Trevor Project is the only national 24/7 suicide and prevention help line for GLBTQ youth and it needs our help as GLBTQ leaders. Simply stated: it needs contributions. If I may be so bold to know despite all of the current ongoing DOMA battles, despite all of the daily excitement and frustration and debate and celebration, we also must see the collateral damage, the wounds that these great strides can inflict. And in doing so, in acknowledging the young people in this country who feel the hateful burden of these triumphant strides, we prepare the next generation of GLBTQ citizens to achieve and sustain what we all so desperately want, and what we all so genuinely deserve: equality and justice for all.

When a kid from Iowa calls Trevor’s helpline because his father just cursed the state government for allowing same-sex marriage, and when the helpline counselor talks and listens and gets him to put down the handful of pills he wanted to take that night. When that one life is saved, we may have just re-written the life story of the first gay president, or of a doctor who will work to ease the difficulties of gender transition, or of a diplomat who will one day represent the United States proudly as the leader in GLBT human rights worldwide, or of a teacher who will stop the bullying in his classroom and
pass on the hope Trevor gave him.

When they answer the phone for a girl who is the only openly bi-sexual student in her high school, and the only member of the gay-straight alliance she founded despite her principal’s resistance, and her parent’s protest, and we acknowledge and affirm her bravery, we know we have inspired not just one agent of change, but a generation.

In perceived isolation, many young people grow up today with no reason to think that the horrible things they hear about GLBTQ people aren’t true. The Trevor Project anticipates this. They are poised, and they are growing, and their influence is expanding.

To everyone who calls, they offer comfort at a distance. It’s knowing that in their darkest moment, these kids have an outlet. They have someone who gets it. But no matter what advice they offer or resources they provide, the most important line they utter to each and every caller is: “you can call us back any time 24/7. We’re always here”

PLEASE ask someone, a client, a friend, a parent, a spouse, yourself to support Trevor today at their website thetrevorproject.org.

Help us to keep seeing these kids, out and about.