Hope

Not long ago I ran across a picture of a couple of gay boys at the mall. (I think I may have posted the picture on my blog.) They were in their late teens, but they looked like they were still young enough to be living at home--maybe 16 or 17. They were in the middle of a store, and one was down on bended knee offering a promise ring to the other. The boy offering the ring was promising to be faithful while they are together. They were both very happy, and they apparently weren’t worried about what the other people in the store would think. They didn’t seem to be worried that someone from school would see them. They didn’t seem to be worried that one of their parents’ friends might be in the store and tell their parents that their son has a boyfriend. It was so sweet. And these were obviously gay boys, too. Not jocks or football players. They were the type of gay boys that in the past had to play it very cool and keep their heads down or they could have become the targets of intense bullying. But the boys in the picture didn’t seem to be concerned with that.

Judging by their clothes, their shopping bags, and the store they were in, I would say that they come from affluent families. Their parents are probably well-educated professionals. And they probably live in an upper middle class suburb of a liberal metro area. Obviously not all kids have it so lucky. But it’s a start. A scene like that would have been unthinkable when I was a teenager. Maybe one day even country boys in West Virginia will be able to give their boyfriends promise rings in the school cafeteria. As well as look forward to living openly with a man they love, bringing him home for Christmas dinner, raising kids with him, growing old with him, and all the while being treated like valued members of the community.