The slaying of 15-year-old Lawrence King on Feb. 12 and the reaction to it illustrated a social shift characterized by gay youths "coming out" younger and their straight counterparts learning the art of tolerance.
"While there is increasing acceptance, the world's still a hostile place for gay teenagers," said Virginia Uribe, a retired LAUSD counselor and founder of the district's Project 10, a support program for gay students.
"They deal with hostile families, hostile churches, if they're involved, and they deal with hostile schools."
Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students are coming out of the closet younger and younger.
"I think some students are feeling more comfortable coming out, feeling empowered in the sense they are aware they have certain rights," said Uribe, now executive director of the nonprofit Friends of Project 10, which supports the LAUSD program.
Uribe, who is a lesbian, was not "out" in 1986 when students upset over the harassment of a gay schoolmate urged her to help. She was spurred by the knowledge that the suicide rate is 25percent higher among gay teens than their straight counterparts. Her principal supported the drive, and Project 10 was born.
But it didn't come without resistance. "Here I am trying to keep kids from killing themselves," she said. "I remember thinking, `Why are people starting to attack me?"'
"The new gay generation is about: `Let's move on. I'm gay. Take me the way I am or not at all, and if you don't like it, that's your problem,"' said David McEachern, president of the Santa Clarita chapter of Parents and Friends of Gays and Lesbians.
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