This Week’s Stories.

I’m From Fairfield, CA. As Christmas drew closer, the untameable beast of anxiety strengthened its strangle hold on all three of us. Sleep seemed like an old friend that I had not seen in years. We had all been taking prescription sleeping pills just to get through. They had set a date of January 2, 2010. This would be the date they told their kids and their family.

I’m From Payson, UT - Featured Artist. Up until the age of 12 I seemed no different from the other boys my age. No one could have ever guessed that I had gender identity disorder; not my friends, my parents, or even me. I had no trouble wearing boy clothes, and I was told I couldn’t wear dresses, so I didn’t. I never took to toys geared toward boys, but neither did I desire to play with dolls. My passion was in Legos, and drawing pictures; something that soon became evident, and lent itself to decades of art-related gift giving.

I’m From Salt Lake City, UT. The summer after my senior year of high school, I traveled to Europe for a last hoorah before college. I was 17 and a world away from Salt Lake City, the hometown that I had grown to hate desperately. Finally, I was getting a taste of what life would be like without the gaze of my parents’ eyes.

I’m From Rockford, IL. Despite the fact that I grew up in a conservative household — my mother was raised Irish Catholic, my father Lutheran — my parents always taught me to be accepting and tolerant of other human beings. I never heard any racism come from their lips.

I’m From Los Angeles, CA - Video Story. So growing up in Los Angeles, it’s obviously a pretty big city and I am fortunate enough that I never had to deal with homophobia too much. And the fact that my parents were completely fine with me being gay at a very young age. Between me wanting to take ballet lessons or saying I wanted to be a fashion designer, they didn’t really care. I think part of that was my uncle, who is gay, lived right next door to us.





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Support the 50-State Story Tour!
Most of you know by now, but this fall Marquise and I are embarking on an ambitious 4-month, 50-State Story Tour to collect and share LGBTQ stories from the smallest towns and biggest cities across the U.S. We can't wait! In order to make that happen, we have to raise $15,000 via Kickstarter. The way Kickstarter works [...]
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